Why Doctors Are Losing the Public’s Trust

Dec 18, 2017

We discussed this blog post, and more, with Dr. Girgis in a live #PWChat TweetChat at 3:00pm (ET) on November 30, 2017!

In my mind, the doctor-patient relationship is sancrosanct. There is no relationship where the bond of trust should be so strong, outside of matrimony. As physicians, patients rely on us to help them make life-saving decisions. And we need patients to be honest with us so that we can give the highest quality medical advice. Yet, there has been an erosion in this relationship over recent years. Doctors are no longer held in such high esteem as they were decades ago. Even our own Commander-in-Chief, President Obama, alluded to the fact that doctors have financial incentive to do more surgeries. The public is losing their trust in us. They see us as driven for profit. They feel we don’t listen to their concerns anymore and don’t care what they want or need.

Why has the public lost trust in doctors?

♦ Third parties are often making decisions. For example, they dictate their own formularies, and we often have our hands tied as to what medications we can prescribe. I often have patients ask me for the “strong Stuff.” They don’t realize that doctors are limited in prescribing habits, and we are not withholding the Best medications. But, we are the ones in direct contact with the patient.

♦ Outlier doctors have been gaming the system. Most doctors truly put patients’ care first, before profit. But, there are a few who inappropriately use their medical degrees for profit. Just look at Dr. Oz trying to get rich promoting weight loss products with no proven benefit. These doctors make us all look bad.

♦ There are many mandates imposed on us that affect patient care. One example is meaningful use. Doctors now have to document many metrics, inputting data into our EHR systems, in order to meet requirements. Patients take this lack of eye-to-eye contact as a sign that we are more interested in their digital record than them. They feel we are no longer listening to them. They don’t realize that we don’t want to be doing this. It has been opposed on us from on high, and we will be penalized if we don’t.

♦ HMO’s have greatly cut reimbursements to doctors. In order for practices to stay afloat financially, we have to see more patients. We need to find more and more room to see these extra patients if we want to stay afloat. Patients feel this and take it as an indication that we are pushing them through for profit and don’t care about them.

♦ Media tends to portray doctors in a bad light. There are big stories about the pill mill doctors and those arrested for fraud or harassment. There are so many more amazing stories of heroic doctors around than the bad apples. But the press does not give them attention. People rather see the bad than the good. This too tends to paint us all in a negative light.

Medical diseases are becoming more complex, and people are living longer. There has never been a time where patients need to trust their doctors more. All doctors need to remember their oath and put the patient back in center focus. We all need to take a stand against those doctors who are abusing the system for their own gain. Patients need to learn that the vast majority us care about our patients and have their best interests in mind. We all need to become a team again. Patients need to regain our trust, and our profession needs to re-establish its integrity.

Originally posted in Nov. 2015

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Dr. Linda Girgis MD, FAAFP, is a family physician in South River, New Jersey. She holds board certification from the American Board of Family Medicine and is affiliated with St. Peter’s University Hospital and Raritan Bay Hospital. Dr. Girgis earned her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at Sacred Heart Hospital, through Temple University and she was recognized as intern of the year. Over the course of her practice, Dr. Girgis has continued to earn awards and recognition from her peers and a variety of industry bodies, including: Patients’ Choice Award, 2011-2012, Compassionate Doctor Recognition, 2011-2012. Dr. Girgis’ primary goal as a physician remains ensuring that each of her patients receives the highest available standard of medical care.

About The Author

Linda Girgis, MD

Like What You’re Reading?

Dr. Linda Girgis MD, FAAFP, is a family physician in South River, New Jersey. She holds board certification from the American Board of Family Medicine and is affiliated with St. Peter’s University Hospital and Raritan Bay Hospital. Dr. Girgis earned her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at Sacred Heart Hospital, through Temple University and she was recognized as intern of the year. Over the course of her practice, Dr. Girgis has continued to earn awards and recognition from her peers and a variety of industry bodies, including: Patients’ Choice Award, 2011-2012, Compassionate Doctor Recognition, 2011-2012. Dr. Girgis’ primary goal as a physician remains ensuring that each of her patients receives the highest available standard of medical care.

361 Comments

Anne
on May 19, 2020 at 6:28 pm

Don’t trust most Doctors!!! I have seen too many mistakes made by them and most aren’t accountable. Many of them are wolves in sheep s clothing.
They abuse their power and take advantage of the little guy! Always be wise and discerning with them. Don’t take them at face value.
Some are arrogant, uncaring and financially greedy.:(

I can’t remember the last time my doctor actually spoke with me, it is sad. I can’t just get a new doctor either because the town I live in, no doctor is taking new patients. Luckily I was able to get an appointment with a new doctor, but my appointment isn’t until August 2020 and I called to get an appointment August 2019.

I think one other reason is layman gaining access to scientific research that undermines current medical practices. People for some reason equate doctors with scientists, and expect medical doctors to incorporate recent scientific discoveries in their practice. When they find out that in many cases there are disagreements between medicine and science, they tend to side with science and lose a degree of trust with medicine.

I don’t think you’re a good doctor tbh … Reading this article feels like reading apologetic bullshit for your lack of care for your patients.

How come you stuggle to “stay afloat” when doctors are some of the highest paid professions and you have 12 luxury cars, 3 homes and your holidays always involve some luxury resort in a paradise ? Come on be honest with yourself, don’t try to bullshit us.

All I can read is “I’m a doctor and here are all the reasons it’s not my fault if you don’t trust me, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I won’t spend the necessary time to diagnose you because if I fall below my daily number I won’t be able to afford the dog 1654321in tv ….”

You’re supposed to be in the most selfless profession of all, wether you like or not … You have chosen a profession where you result/succes shouldn’t be measured by how much you make but how many people you save or how much you do for your patients.

I’m so sick of doctors pushing their shitty 3mn diagnosis when people come to you with serious issues and fear about their health. Do you imagine how it feels to be dismissed by the very person you’re supposed to see when you feel sick ?

You are an extremely ignorant person who knows nothing about doctors or their lives. 12 luxury cars? Ever read anything about medical school loans, the extreme pressure on doctors to see more and more patients? Costs of running a practice, paying for malpractice and spending late days and nights at work calling fools like you? Seen the statistics on doctors having the highest suicide rates? Which world do you live on?

I know enough people working in hospitals to actually have some knowledge about the over billing , unnecessary tests, test that are more expensive than any treatment requires. Specialist stopping in just to be able to bill $300 for a 3 min conversation etc. It is a racket. I do not put all the blame on the doctors and nurses but they are supposed to have an ethic of helping patients not helping the hospital make more money. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks and ended up kicking people out of the room knowing they were just there to collect funding for the hospital. I also know a few health care providers that were either demoted or fired for refusing to over bill patients. Any time healthcare is for profit , profit comes before the health of any patient.

The I was electrocuted on a groverment job lost a leg and two fingers and went back to work after getting well and work two full time job but my doctor that took my leg off said I will have alot of pain when I turn 40 but when I fell and shattering my knee which a doctor told me I did not break I had to go on disability and then the pain set in but now it’s like they treat me like I’m a drug addict just cause I have to come up there do urine test for my pain medicine it’s a shame the way the United States is treating their hard-working people or anybody else’s phone disability or old they’re being treated like drug addicts and if not right when you walk into a room as dollar signs and not to care of a patient.

Considering the quackery that is currently going on in hospitals – I’ll likely never see a doctor again. They have systematically destroyed any trust I had in the medical industry over the course of 2 months.

Modern medicine is a cult, completely controlled by Big Pharma, led by the nose by Big Insurance, and lacking any use of the scientific method. Any physician that dares question the validity of the current agenda is outed as a fraud and no longer allowed to be in their club.

Once you realize BP and BI are both arms of the BLDRBRG cabal, you’ll start to realize why you cannot trust anything that is considered accepted fact in modern medicine.

more often than not – what affects pets is what affects us. Best get the straight scoop now because the same people that derailed doctors is headed to vet medicine. We are affected by parasites, bacteria, fungus, worms. They should be able to do a live microscopy in their office but they send off dead blood instead. The reason people are losing trust in doctors is because the majority have not stood up for patients. They can’t see they learned medicine not how to heal thanks to the schools and boards that have tied your hands. They should be the first to want to get rid of the medical board, pharma and even gov from being in the middle of the doctor/patient relationship. People see it. Why can’t doctors band together and fight off what is wrong – like keeping critically ill patients in pain from having medication. It is sickening to watch doctors go along with all of this…

I am almost ready to throw in the towel and quit being a physician because in 2020 most people act like their physician is a rug for them to wipe their feet on. They think if we don’t have an answer, we are ‘incompetent’. Doctors are not magicians and every problem does not have a perfect fix. That does not make the doctor ‘incompetent’. People disregard medical advise, don’t take responsibility for their own health, live unhealthy lives, use drugs, demand unnecessary tests and medicines, etc and when things go bad they talk about being angry with doctors. I am tired of dealing with an increasing number of these folks. I will be sorry to leave some good responsible patients but I am sick and tired of being like a door mat and listening to all the hatred. To hell with it. I am so looking forward to doing something else!

So quick to dismiss patients, besause “they don’t live healthy lifestyle”. Fuck you my dude, good riddance for the medical system.

As a doctor you’re supposed to work hard to help patients, you sound like a crybaby who people wouldn’t listen to his bullshit “eat better and you’ll be fine”. Again, go fuck yourself, people going to the doctors are the deifinition of people taking responsability, they come to you to get help, not be looked at disdainfully and be told “it’s your fault, go die silently” And they’re right to be angry at you. People are getting sick and all you do is tell them to eat better and get on an antidepressant if they aren’t litterally dying in front of you.

You can tell when you’re sick right ? Why can’t others ? Why do I have to be satisfied when the doctor tell me it’s just in your head when obviously itsn’t ? Just so you can see your more “responsible” patients (i.e the one you managed to diagnose because it was right in your face ?)

You really piss me off. Don’t take any other job including human relationship, stick to some number/research wathever but live the rest of humankind alone. You lazy, disrespectful shit

How is it “Good riddance for the medical system” when doctors leave medical practice? Are you and your potty mouth going to start treating sick people? Must be easy for you to say “stick to research” when there is a shortage of doctors in many parts of the country and doctors are leaving medicine. Frankly, if anyone had to deal with dummies like you on a regular basis, can’t blame them for wanting to leave and do something else. Sadly, the rest will suffer as more doctors stop practicing and become ‘administrators’ or researchers. If you can’t be civil and show basic respect, go see a chanter or guru or witch doctor next time you get sick.

I learned the hard way in life which my past Neurologist or Opthamologist I visited once never mentioned is of my migraines decreasing a good bit and different than before, which consisted of horrific head pain for entire day after blurred vision with being bedridden and vomitting, compared to now of only 2 or 3 times of unexpected blurred vision a month and sometimes it going away with nothing hurting and sometimes it just a minor ache.

I noticed such betterment has been due to meditation, plant based diet, no more junk as conventional sodas though I take Seltzer Water as much better and most likely avoiding MSG in addition to adequate sleep. In 2000 to 2009, I would take Topomax everyday recommended by my Neurologist as a preventative yet it never helped and caused weight gain and even so-called “effective” pharmaceutical meds for migraine as Imitrex never helped after suffering a migraine. My Neurologist I went to different times and even the Opthamologist I went to once never could determine what the root problem source was and never once suggested meditation, yoga, going on a plant based diet and ditching sodas.

I moved to Apple Valley Ca and started with a new doctor. First visit I asked the nurse how long does it normally take to get an appointment. She told me about five days. I told her my other doctors office took about 3 weeks to be seen with a appointment. That is why I did change doctors. Well to make a long story short it takes about two weeks to see this doctor too. They had me do blood work and it came back that I have high white blood cells. I looked on the web to find out what this means. There is a few things info could be one of them was cancer. They set me up with a specialist a referral oncologist well I saw the reviews on that doctor not good at all so I called my doctors office to tell them I wanted a different referral do to the reviews of that doctor. The first time waiting for the referral took a week. I waited a week and a half for the second referral I called at around 8:30 in the morning left a message with the referral lady. I waited until 3:00 for a call back nobody called me back. I ended up going back down the hill an hour and a half away to my old doctor. I had to sighn the release forms to get my records to my new doctors office. The doctor that I fired wil not fax over my medical records they want me to pick them up. Do to this Corona Virus and the government telling everyone to stay home and my wife having COPD I don’t want to take a chance on killing my wife with this Virus I have not picked up my records. Do to this Corona Virus you would think that the doctors office would send over my medical records by fax. I did call my insurance company to let them know what is going on. I did look up on the web and it says they have 30 days to give me my medical records but when it is possible cancer that 30 days should not be allowed do to these cercimstansis. I did file a grievance against this doctors office with my insurance company April 10 2020. I’m done venting now.

I go to the doctor every 3 months to get my metforman lisinopril and pravastatin refilled. my doctor is nice enough but I don’t really feel comfortable telling them anything anymore. I am 62 and I have a high-deductible health plan. everything I tell them they want me to go take very expensive tests that I have to pay for it. I’ve taken a test or two and all I get after the tests they shrug and say “I don’t know”. So now when I go I pretty much just keep my mouth shut. Like I said I just go to get the prescriptions refilled. Is this considered top-notch medicine like so many in the US think we have?

Haha is this a joke? No doctors do not care….my ENTIRE life I’ve had horrible digestive issues, and STILL dont have answers? Most docs tried to say oh just eat some fiber… or that it was for attention, not I have wasting syndrome and still dont have help. They do one test and when it comes back negative they tell you to go home without actually trying to figure it out. 2020 doctors are a joke.

I had a similar experience. I spent three years going to doctors. After 3 years of being given a pill, told it was in my head, or worse, just to take some Tylenol and sleep, I finally have a diagnosis. First some background. I had so many various health issues, I got referrals and was under the active care of these various specialists: My Primary Care Doc of course, OBGYN, Urologist, Gastro., Pulmonologist, Ear Nose Throat, Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy, Chiropractor, regular visits to Critical Care and two visits to the ER.

For three years I was treated for conditions that kept returning. I was in a lot of pain often and bouts where it was difficult to walk even. I finally started doing my own research with my symptoms. For 6 months I begged the doctors to test me for fungus. I had all of the symptoms with repetitive infections returning over and over. I had more than one doctor say that if I had a fungus, I would be too sick to be sitting there talking to them. With each person treating only one condition, no one considered me sick enough, despite the fact that I told the doctors about each other and spoke about all of my conditions to all of them. My pulmonologist did one antibody test for Aspergillus. When that test for that ONE fungus came back negative, it was enough for him to declare me fungus free and not worthy of a round of Diflucan. My sick, sorry self, slunked home to my bed to die.

In the end, I was so sick, I could not be deterred. I was almost septic. But that comes later. After begging and begging and begging, I got referred to an ENT who agreed to culture my nose for fungus. It is positive. A fungus is currently growing right now in the culture. They have to let it grow longer to find out what kind it is before they can give me any medicine for it. They immediately tried to refer me to an Infectious Disease Doctor to be treated for the fungus. The first one denied me for treatment for some reason. So they are trying another guy. I have not been able to make an appointment yet.

In the meantime, I am a very sick woman, getting sicker by the day. I am keeping myself alive with large doses of coconut oil and garlic cloves. They help! I broke down and went to a Functional Doctor two days after the ENT cultured my nose. Functional Doctors do not work within our current health insurance markets. I figured better to spend my last pennies trying to stay alive, because I can’t use it after I am gone. It was my last ditch effort.

I had a diagnosis in one day!

At the visit with her, she analyzed my blood. She said I was almost septic. I have fungus in my blood, a lot of bacteria , and parasites (flukes). She suspected there was fungus growing elsewhere in my system as well given the condition of my blood. Within less than a week, I had heard back from the ENT with the positive fungus culture that verified both what I had been saying and what the Functional Doctor saw in my blood. That day, she immediately put me on a very restrictive diet with a boatload of Homeopathic Medicine to kill the fungus, bacteria and parasites, and start to address my thyroid issue as well that she also diagnosed as behind behind what has now become Leaky Gut… which led to all of those toxins getting into my system… The point is this went on way too long, and now I am VERY sick. I will never get better until we clean my blood.

I am finally Recovering. It has been a 4 year struggle, of which I could have easily lost the battle.

Having told my story, I think doctors mean well. They are victims of the healthcare system that we have as well. It is very hard for them, with all of their training, and the rules of the system, to function outside of it. Having millions of specialists does not help people with Chronic disease and conditions. More focus in the current system needs to be put on finding underlying disease. Each doctor was doing a fabulous job of playing Whack-A-Mole with my various symptoms. But there was no one there to diagnose the underlying issue.

More of us need to tell our stories and be heard. This is the experience of probably millions of people who have chronic conditions. Our health care system fixes the immediate symptom at hand. It does not cure your underlying disease or health condition. Maybe sometimes it does. There are a lot of success stories, and I would STILL like someone to prescribe me a darn anti-fungal… (Thank you very much!!!) and I want people to be well however it works for you. But there are so many cases like this where we are finding where it doesn’t work.

I am so very sorry that happened to you. I too have had very very bad experiences with doctors. I am so exhausted from advocating for myself. And when we do advocate we are labelled as crazy. I have diagnosed myself with major problems 3 times. Just now I am suffering from pancreatitis and I did not even get a call back from my Primary Care provider today regarding a plan and my labs despite my multiple messages. I can go on and on of course! You are so not alone here!!!

While I agree with much of what the author wrote, I do find it interesting how she left out the reason that you’ve outlined here (which is probably the single most important one) – that there is an alarming amount of incompetence out there.

Everyone has bad memories of the medical department. No one like to face medical treatment. but it’s the most important part in everyone’s life. We need them and we have to thank them for there service.

Familly doctors are losing the trust of the trust of the public for the following reasons:

They provide a lousy service because there is no way they can assess a patient in 5 minutes. It is absolutely impossible.

This happens because in Canada the medical profession absolutely controls how many doctors can practice in Canada by several legal and administrative tricks.

It is not rational that a medical doctor from any developed country, even some more developed than Canada, such as Germany and Switzerland, can not come into Canada and start to practice anywhere they want.

The artificial scarcity of doctors in Canada is the reason for the 5 minutes per patient macabre joke and for thousands and thousands of patients with no family doctor and for the money printing profession family medicine has become in Canada.

Family doctors and independent specialists ar basically public employees with the job socurity of civil servants but incomes many times higher.

The situation is so ridiculous that the public, wrongly thinks all doctors are a sort of holy trade. This happens because the money they make, the 5 minute “audience” with the “holy man” and their scarcity has created the myth.

The same would happen to any profession able to create a similar situation for itself if they controlled the rules in the same way.

As a matter of fac, it is the holy grail of most professions to control who practices it. Plumbers, electricians, psychologists, house inspectors and on and on, do all they can to do what doctors do. This is why to work as a plumber you have to be a licenced plumber, one of the easiest jobs anyone can tackle, same for home electricians.

But the root problem are not those professionals, they just look after themselves. The root problem is us, the general public who support the set up.

So, stop complaining about the 5 minutes consultation, the days you have to wait to see the doctor, not having a doctor or how much money they make and vote for a politician who represents your interests.

I am afraid of doctors because vast majority became ones for their own selfishness, to empose their dominance as doctors over others. You know if you are one, you are there for money and small PP. There are a lot of psychopaths among them. To become a doctor, all you have to do is to be a bookworm, you dont need empathy or human nature in you. Med schools filter our good natured people, and accept only the cyrborg type ones. I have not seen a doctor for long time now, since I injured my arm, and doctor in ER seemed discussed with all the blood I had. I literally almost walked out of ER, bleeding.

The reason we distrust doctors is that most of them have colossal ignorance of modern medical progress and treatments, combined with colossal hubris.
There is no excuse for any doctor to throw their hands in the air and not help patients explore other avenues with other medicos who may know.
What about the people who have to go overseas to find doctors who can say, “Oh yes, we know what that problem is.” after years of misdiagnosis and mistreatment at home that makes them worse.
Almost none of you truly abide by your oath.
I asked a doctor about what I suspected… I was told ‘well, that would be very rare’… and lo and behold! I ask another go to test for it and bingo! That’s what it is.
Just because it’s one in a billion, doesn’t mean that that isn’t the person standing in front of you.
We don’t expect you to know everything, but we do expect you to HELP us discover what is unknown…
The only doctor I trust is one who admits they don’t know and says ‘let’s find out’ in the same breath.

I so very much agree with you on this. I too have the same experiences. Finding a good doctor is like finding a needle in a haystack. I have had to travel cross country multiple times. I still have no help with certain things.

I’m not surprised that people have lost faith in the medical profession. I have too and I’m a registered nurse who has practiced for over 25 years. In 2016 I fractured 8 lumbar and thoracic vertebra, which is a direct result of medication that I was being prescribed. This isn’t something that you recover from in six weeks. This happened three and a half years ago and I’m just now ready to return to work. Lucky for me, I have a desk job. Unfortunately for me, the state that I live in has a medical malpractice cap of $250,000.00 on lawsuit payouts, so good luck trying to get blood out of a turnip.

In 2018, I thought I’d return to school to see how that went as far as sitting for long periods of time. Although I graduated from nursing school with honors, I struggled this time around as my major was not related to any type of medically related field. I ended up dropping out. When I tried to discuss my mentation issues with my new physician, his answer was, “you’re getting older”. Not only was I not having any memory issues in any other area of my life, but
I knew this was BS. As it turned out, one day while surfing the ‘net’ I stumbled upon my answer. The medications that HE was prescribing to me (3 medications) interfered with the function of my 10th cranial nerve. One of the meds I was able to eliminate which helped a lot. The point is, he should have known this, if he’s prescribing these meds and if he didn’t know why, it’s his responsibility to figure it out, not BS me and blame it on my age. I have also developed circulatory issues, which doesn’t surprise me since I lost 5 inches in height. When I mentioned it to this physician, he poo poo’d me saying, “Well, I don’t think so because people that practice yoga hold positions and they don’t have circulatory problems”. Seriously? Being someone that practiced Yoga since 1977, I feel pretty certain that these Yoga practitioners don’t hold poses 24/7.

When I was having cardiac issues, I went through five cardiologists until I found the one I go to now. In my opinion, he’s the best cardiologist within three counties. He’s brilliant and he wants to be well versed in any medical problem you may be having, but if he doesn’t know something, he’ll come right out and tell you. By the time you follow up with him, he’s got it all figured out and some of this stuff isn’t cut and dry. Therein lies the difference.

No comment on dr’s that dismiss anything a person says. That say what did you expect rather than saying how to deal with something. No comment on dr’s not talking about doing something easy like 10,000 steps and eat more salad. Why don’t we take a real look at why people are fed up with dr’s.

I like how this article covers no serious issues with patients and doctors. I am constantly having to report doctors for trying to bully me into taking medication I am allergic to. I literally had a doctor suggest that I do illegal activity to manage my fybromyalgia as well and had to beg him to see specialists for my other health issues. Not to mention a life time of physical health conditions that were brushed off as a mental disorder, sorry but there is no way bipolar presents the same way as psoriasis either. Now these conditions are resistant to all the standard therapies 😀 according to my spoonie support groups I am not the only person dealing with this and nothing ever happens out of the reports.

i Try my best to trust folks in the medical field. However with the wealth of information materials such as teledoctor services, dr/nurse practitioner help lines through my insurance, and even the Internet. I have had way too many providers lie to my face about medicine that they prescribed. I have even seen a provider go out and frantically google what a medicines side effects are so she could tell me that my side effects are something else. I have also learned that if a provider will not work with you on time scales for revisits, or medication changes but rather says “that’s the way I do it you’ll have to deal with it”(this is what my current and last provider do) they are not a good provider, and should not be trusted with your healthcare at all. Trust is earned, not given. The same goes with respect. I feel this is is a lesson all doctors need take to heart very very closely.

I’ve had three doctors before I recieved a really good one, all three of have diagnosed me with problems I didnt even have.
One didnt use the right size cuff when they took my blood pressure and it came ridiculously high so their answer was blood pressure pills, a short time later I felt something wasnt right and went to my local er where they told me I shouldn’t be alive because my stats were off the charts and I should’ve never been put on that medication to begin with.
My second doctor put me lithium for my anxiety she wanted me to take 100mg 6 times a days and then she put me on other medications that I didn’t even need and the worst part it most of them you weren’t even supposed to take together never mind taking them with lithium.
Lastly my third doctor wanted me to go off all my migraine meds because she said they made my anxiety and depression worse, so her logical answer was to put me meds that not only didnt help me but actually would make those problems worse and not help with my migraines.
I was on naproxen sodium for my migraines and my stomach wasnt feeling right, I always had acid reflux and heart burn but a couple years after taking this I had found myself downing antacids by they bottle.
I went to my gp and they told there was nothing to worry about and it was all in my head, this going back and forth went on for about a month.
The last time I saw this gp she again told me it was in my head and later the next day I had found myself in the er with a bleeding ulcer larger then a gulf ball and I should’ve been dead with needing two and a half bags of blood.
The worst one had to be when I had walking pneumonia for six months before they figured it, it started as bronchitis and they told me it was a cold, then they told me it was in my head.
I went straight to my er after my gp appointment and told them how long it was going for and after pulling out all the stops they were trying trying to figure out how I walked in and how I wasnt dead, I simply said it’s in the DNA, everyone in my family’s too stubborn and stupid to kick off so easily.
The worst part is my new doctor wonders why I dont trust them, this is why everytime something is wrong and I know it s wrong they tell me “who’s the doctor?” Or “it’s all in your head” that is until I’m in the er and everything I said had been valid.
Now I just go to my husband’s mother who’s a Wiccan and I haven’t felt better all the meds they said I “needed” with the exception of my migraine medication I’m off and everythings back to what they call normal.
they dont approve of me doing this, however the proof is in the pudding, they couldn’t get me straightened out after they mucked it up so she did and now the docs aren’t happy about it.
Now every time something’s wrong I go to her and I’m better within a couple weeks, it’s great and the best part is she knows exactly what’s going on.

: Being a in the medical field comes with a lot of its own ups and downs, but one thing for sure is that the medical field is one of the most rewarding career fields that you could possibly get into. Patients could be coming into the hospital on the worst day of their life just searching for answers or a course of treatment and even if the medical staff don’t have the answers for the patient at that moment it’s the treatment team’s job to make that patient feel safe and like no matter what that person will be taken care of. Because we’re in the medical field and that’s what we do. That is our job! When did the medical field become a career path that was less about the patient and more about how much money we could take out of the patient’s pockets? When did healthcare become less about the health of the patient and more about the money? This is the sad reality of current healthcare. Healthcare and the ethics that kept the roots of the medical field strong have now faded.
The medical field is supposed to be all about helping patients and saving lives. The medical field was once known as one of the most selfless career fields you could get into. At the beginning of any medical professional’s journey they must take the Hippocratic Oath. There are two different versions of the oath, the classical version and the modern version. Both versions of the Hippocratic Oath can be found on this link to PBS https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hippocratic-oath-today/ . The classical version has the same main points as the modern version, just in the classical version the medical professionals are taking an oath to the Gods and Goddesses to take care of the people. Whereas the modern version has more modern and accepting beliefs and medical professionals are taking an oath to the people promising them that they would treat them to the best of their abilities.
When comparing the classical and the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath they both have the same main point, which is that they will treat the patients to the best of their ability, maintain the patient’s privacy, and teach medicine to generations to come. As you can see the principals of the Hippocratic Oath are all aimed towards treating the patients and treating them well. So when did it become okay for medical professionals to turn away from the oath that they took and put money over a human life. More than 26,000 people die a year because they can’t afford the medical treatment they need. This fact can be found here in an article https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323087/ . Can we all just let this sink in for a minute? 26,000 people die! People are dying because they can’t pay their medical expenses. More than 26,000 people’s lives are being put behind the amount of money medical professionals have at the end of their pay period. So much for the medical field being one of the most selfless career fields you can get into. Medical professionals are literally putting their own wealth over human lives! And then we wonder why people are so hesitant to even go get medical advice or trust the medical advice given to them, because it seems like Doctors could care less about whether the patient get better or not, they just want to get to the end of their shift and collect that nice paycheck.
David Wood, you are saying that it’s simply fine by you if the public doesn’t trust doctors anymore. Well that’s sad because wouldn’t it be a shame if the doctors went through all that school just for the public to go “search for medical advice elsewhere”. Wouldn’t it be so much easier just for medical professionals to spend time to build a relationship with their patients and show them that they are there for the soul purpose to treat the public and not turn them away when they are desperately looking for answers to their medical issues? I understand that not all patients are pleasant all the time, but it’s our job to understand that some of these people are coming into our workplace seeking our help on what could be the worst day of their lives. They don’t feel good, they have some sort of illness and they sought out us for our help. Here’s a crazy idea, what if we took the time to get to know our patients and understand their background and what they’re going through and help them with their physical and emotional barriers that are keeping them from living their lives to its fullest potential. Our job is to help the patient in any way possible, not to judge them, and definitely not to turn them away when they sought out our help.
As caregivers we need to take the time to truly take care of our patients in any way possible. We need to take the Hippocratic Oath seriously and go back to valuing the ethics and morals that once made the medical field so strong. Let’s stop worrying about when our shift is over and start worrying about the people who need our help. How about we stop putting the money medical professionals make over human lives that could be saved with the treatments that are routine. Help the medical field get back to being truly one of the most selfless careers out there by being selfless and helping the people who need it.

I can’t stand doctors and am currently very ill because of there nonsense. I have dealt with a parasite, rabies, and now a brain infection! When I needed the rabies shots it took me literally two and a half months after exposure to the virus to receive the proper treatment!!!! I had a small abrasion that broke the skin from an animal with an unknown vaccination status. I tried to get the shots as soon as possible just in case the animal exposed me to the virus and I got a very condescending doctor asking me sarcastically if I really wanted to come back for those shots and then explains that I needed to have animal control check on the dog. Really !well the whole thing happened at a mentally ill friends house during thanksgiving in another state so having animal control go to her house to check on the dog was useless!!!! As well as utterly impossible!!!! Anyway I kept trying to tell myself that the chances of being exposed to rabies we’re slim to none, that it is rare. I started experiencing some debilitating symptoms anyway I had a regular appointment with a dentist to fill cavities and he wouldn’t even finish the appointment because I looked so Unwell. He told me to go straight to the Er! I disliked doctors so much I ignored his suggestion for a day or so until I started feeling like my throat was tightening up. Typical symptoms of rabies are throat spasms and inability to drink water. I could tell I was in trouble and should have had the vaccinations administered a long time ago. I had tried three times at three different medical facilities but was rebuffed and ignored!!! I know it’s rare but it’s deadly and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Doctors literally think rare means never!!!! They also think that if you don’t have family go with you to the ER that your not worthy or something along those lines. Anyway I went to the Er and explained my situation and the attending physician had the nerve to ask if I had a test coming up in school (like I was there to get out of class or something) if I was going to make up a fake illness wouldn’t it be more of a common one like the flu! I finally was administered the shots and had to come back five times to the hospital for each separate shot which was fine by me because it seemed like a miracle that I was even getting the shots in the first place. I felt ill for six months after that it was a miracle that I lived through it. Luckily the exposure to rabies was minimal so the vaccines did what they were supposed to and I developed an immunity to the rabies virus. Doctors are narcissistic, ego centric, sociopathic animals! Moving forward a year later I have a neurologist appointment and I’m telling the nurse who takes my blood pressure and about what happened and she says “oh those shots must have been painful right” I almost wanted to slap her! My symptoms were way more horrific than any shot! Anyway when I started receiving the shots a year before after the possible rabies exposure the nurse that was administering them shrugged her shoulders and say it’s too late for this! Her apathy and inconsiderate remarks were unbelievable. Luckily the doctor required me to see a primary care doctor to make sure the vaccines were doing what they were supposed too do. It sucks that we have to depend on these animals to protect our health in desperate situations. I bet possibly that some medical professionals will review my experience and doubt the veracity of my situation because they assume that I would be dead if it was really rabies exposure. Well it was because my friends dog died and was tested and the test came up positive. Of course I didn’t find this out until after my whole ordeal. If I had found out sooner I would have demanded the shots sooner!!!

While doctors pretend to care about their patients, their primary goal is to make as much money as possible. Got any kind of pain? Well then they must operate because they make more money from doing surgeries then seeing you for 30 seconds in their office. Doctors get tons of money from pharma companies for giving talks on new drugs that we eventually have to pay exorbitant fees to buy. The worst part is that with doctors, you have no idea what anything will cost until after you get your bill and then you have no choice. In no other industry are prices unknown before getting a service. Why the hell should it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to be in the hospital for a few days?

Pain management said it would be better for me to get lidocaine injections from my head to my toes rather then pain killers a few days at a time as needed..sounds more like cruel and unusual punishment for having fybromyalgia.

You can blame the world health organization they’ve decided that everyone who needs pain meds are addicts so the cure to the addiction problem is to stop providing medicine to people in excruciating pain.

Here’s why I not only distrust, but actively dislike, doctors, and why I avoid them if at all possible:

Every time I do schedule an appointment, I’m reminded that if I am more than 15 minutes late, I’m counted as a no-show, my appointment is canceled, and I will be billed a $50 no-show fee. I have to sign a form at the outset of the doctor-patient relationship agreeing to this.

So I arrive on time, with all my prescriptions in a bag, as instructed, so the doctor will remember what he prescribed me last time. Because doctors don’t trust their own records.

I sign in, and wait 30-60 minutes in a waiting room with a couple dozen sick people, their screaming kids, and a year-old copy of Ladies Home Journal to pass the time with.

When I’m called back, I’m led like a cow to slaughter by a nurse’s assistant who was a member of her high school’s debate team last year, to a scale for weighing, then to an exam room to have my blood pressure read, my blood sugar taken using a lancet that makes a hole you could drive an F-350 through, and my temperature taken.

Then I wait. Again. At least 45 minutes, sometimes as much as 2 hours.

Finally, someone comes in with a stethoscope hung around his neck (this is the official badge of a medical doctor, right?)

He spends 45 seconds in the room, staring at his computer screen and his clipboard and speaking in some language that is neither English nor Spanish (I speak both, and a little French). He then scribbles something on his clipboard and mumbles a few words that may be badly broken English, I’m not sure. He glances at me for the first time, says “Okay” and leaves.

The nurse’s assistant leads me to check-out, and I’m free to go after half a day wasted.

A month later, I get a bill for $575 because the clinic didn’t fill the insurance claim properly.

And doctors have the unmitigated gall to think we should trust them???

I’m a fan of modern medicine and ridicule alternative medicine any time I get the chance. But even I don’t trust the medical community as a whole. Time and time again I’ve learned this the hard way. Always be super alert; especially when any form of surgery or intervention is on the table. My mother has been experiencing tinnitus since she was a teenager. She’d visited various “famous” otolaryngolists and neurologists for her condition; none of which were able to help since her head MRI and MRA showed nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn’t until recently that a nobody neurologist suspected that the pulsatile nature of the tinnitus may have an underlying vascular cause. So she ordered a CT angiogram. The results showed my mother had a vascular abnormality called a “high riding jugular bulb”. In normal cases, the jugular vein, though which the blood is drained from the brain, has a bulb-like shape close to the middle ear. In my mother, this bulb is a bit higher and she can hear the pulsatile blood flow sound. The neurologist told us it’s nothing to worry about and it would be a huge mistake to try to fix it. We made a mistake and insisted that there has to be something wrong. So she unwillingly referred us to an interventional neuroradiologist. It’s a mouthful, I know! They basically do to the brain and neck what interventional cardiologists do to the heart: non-surgical intervention; mainly to treat aneurysms. Now this guy was full of it! Let’s call him Dr. G. Dr. G is a doctor in the top medical school in my country. After a year we were able to make an appointment with him. What did he say when he first saw the CT angiogram report? “Do you have insurance? This vein is going to rupture. You need a new MRI and MRV to assess the situation right away” he said! Wow! It wouldn’t be hard to imagine why his treatment made us suspicious. My mother did the MRI and MRV anyway. There were no significant vascular abnormalities! This made me delve more into this issue. I realized there is a medical subspecialty of otolaryngology called “neurotology”; which was what we needed in the first place. I found and consulted a decent neurotologist, another decent interventional neuroradiologist, and two more neurologists; all of whom were unanimous regarding this matter: There is no need to intervene unless it causes unbearable vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss. All were genuinely shocked to hear about it being ruptured. I thought to myself this is weird! There is a massive gap between “it’s going to rupture” and “it’s a benign abnormality”. At this point I was still worried and curious. I’m not a medical doctor, but I’m educated and I know how to research a particular topic. So I researched this matter. Lo and behold! Not a single published article in peer-reviewed journals report a high riding jugular bulb rupturing on its own. Moreover, there were articles published in 2015 and 2019 proposing an interventional replacement for surgery to cure the vertigo and hearing loss. No mention of an impending rupture. The 2015 article claimed it was done for the first time by them. So it dawned upon me that Dr. G was trying to make money (he did say it was going to be expensive) and get a decent article out of it (he is an certified exhibitionist). And perhaps soothe his conscience by curing the tinnitus. And no one would’ve figured out that he literally threatened us into the procedure. Furthermore, these articles weren’t even discussing my mother’s condition. They were concerned with a more severe form of the abnormality called “jugular bulb diverticulum”; in which the tiny little bone between the ear and the vein is absent and the vein protrudes into the middle ear cavity. But even that wasn’t going to rupture. Luckily, my mother befriended another patient of Dr. G. She was treated for an aneurysm and was still having headaches after a year of having the aneurysm coiled. What was Dr. G’s response to her? “I’m done with you and any problem you experience has nothing to do with me”. She told us if she had been able to go back in time she would’ve had an open brain surgery to clip the aneurysm instead. And I’m excluding a lot of other despicable actions done by Dr. G.
This is not an isolated incident. My family has had similar experiences with other specialties as well. Here are a few lessons that I’ve learned during all of this:
1. Most ENT specialists are useless and waste time doing rhinoplasties. They’ve become so obsessed with it that they’ve forgot how to do actual medical procedures. That’s why you might often hear “this is beyond my expertise, you need to visit so-and-so”.
2. Doctors, mostly surgeons, are manipulative. Just like Dr. G, they warn you of an impending threat. Real impending threats, however, are not obscure phenomena that await the attention of the likes of Dr. G. They are established cases that most doctors are able to see.
3. Always get a second opinion when surgery is involved. Always! Consult various relevant specialties. If an orthopedic surgery is involved, talk to other orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists. Research the doctors, try to make them as independent as you can. For instance, do not consult a former student, colleague, etc. Do not be fooled by the aura surrounding a doctor. Be objective and vigilante.
4. Do your own research. Read articles published in peer-reviewed journals.
5. The solution to bad doctors are good doctors. Not all of them are greedy soulless slime-balls. All the bad experiences that I’ve had with a bad doctor were finally remedied by a good doctor.

No where is this problem more self evident than in the case of Doctors prescribing life destroying SSRIs and SNRIs merely at the mention of the word depression. The fact that these drugs are even legal leads one to only one conclusion. The medical profession is completely controlled by pharmaceutical companies.

Generally, there is only 10% of any profession that are at the top in intelligence, skill, and work and personal ethics .
I turn 65 in a few days and have seen a lot of doctors throughout my life. Most were average, quite a few were terrible, rude and /wrong. I got kidney stones at 16 and it took 10 different doctors before My orthopedic DR (from a broken leg), found them in common xray. Then, after having them go dormant for over 30yrs, I started working for Boeing in Everett, WA, and I fell on my back and dislodged them. Acute pain again, and again it took 9 doctors doing it all wrong before the 10th doctor actually listened to me and said ” lets take them out”
I was a CNA for a friend with polio, and I saw him treated extremely bad. Once, they tied his arms and body to a wheelchair and set him at the curb next to the road by himself.
Providence hospital in Everett, wa is one of the worst hospitals I’ve ever been to, and I”ve been to Harbor general in Torrance, CA. Ball State in Muncie, IN, is a zoo too from what I saw. EXTREMELY slow and packed. They just had a person die from leaving because they hadn’t been seen in 6-8 hrs with heart issues.

It’s just fine by me if “the public” doesn’t trust doctors any more. Let them go elsewhere for their medical problems – osteopaths, homeopaths, – even Shamans if they wish. But don’t let them come crawling back to the medical profession with advanced and incurable conditions when they’ve simply wasted their own time.

People have spend years with doctors without any real help. If the medical industry reject them (as you implied) that’s another reason why legit cures and support aren’t exactly there to begin with, and they are not holding their job and oath. Plus, it’s not a matter of wasting time with “alternative” therapies to promote their health or save their own lives, they have realized over time that this system is corrupt and often just another facade for doctors and BigPharma to bank on. That’s the “wasting their own time” you mentioned—-they are butting heads with this medical system and have to resort to something because the solutions aren’t happening.

I am shocked at the ignorance of some people regarding the medical profession. By ignorance, I only mean uninformed. The fact that someone lumps osteopaths in with homeopaths is a perfect example. As an osteopath myself, my initial response is to get angry, but I will choose instead to educate this commentor. There are only 2 paths to FULL medical licensure in the United States (I can’t speak for other countries). One either becomes a D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) or an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine). The M.D. route is often referred to as allopathic. The core medical school curriculum is identical, with the exception that osteopaths also learn osteopathic manipulation techniques, including spinal manipulation. I did my ER residency at one of the best programs in the country, which happened to be a historically allopathic training facility. I have been an ER physician for 20 years working in large, trauma centers and small, community hospitals, working side-by-side with M.D.s throughout my career. In practice, I doubt most people would even know which degree their doctor had if it isn’t clearly stated. Now for a brief history lesson. Osteopathy started back in the 1800s when an M.D. realized that the medical treatments of the day were often causing more harm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Taylor_Still). He felt that the body had an innate ability to heal itself if all the “humors” (fluids) of the body were flowing properly. He developed manipulation techniques to better align the body so that the blood and lymphatic fluid were not hindered. Osteopaths often served in rural communities that otherwise had no access to medical care and some of the first female physicians were trained at Osteopathic schools (I believe the fictional Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman was a D.O.). And yes, they shunned using “legitimate” medical treatments of the day that were eventually shown to be harmful (https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/look-back-old-time-medicines#1). Most osteopaths at that time focused on manipulation and aligning the body. So, in its beginnings, osteopathy was an alternative to “legitimate” medical care and D.O.s were often ostracized by the established medical profession. Fast forward. As scientific research developed and evidence-based medical therapies evolved, the practice of osteopathic physicians evolved as well. They incorporated sound medical treatments into their practice, in addition to still offering their patients traditional osteopathic manipulative treatments. Fast forward again. In today’s medical profession, D.O.s and M.D. practice medicine almost identically. They work in the same hospitals together. Sometimes, they are partners in medical practice. They socialize with each other. Most importantly, they respect each other. I hope this explanation was helpful to this commentor and to anyone else that is misinformed and lumps osteopaths in with physician extenders – nurse practitioners and physician assistants – or with alternative medicine – homeopathy, naturopathy, etc.

With all that said, I completely agree that our health-care system is broke and should more appropriately be called “disease-care” because that is what we focus on, treating disease. Perhaps, we could learn from the founder of Osteopathy and realize that our bodies are miraculous and if given the right things (proper nutrition, sleep, sunlight, exercise) the body will keep many disease processes at bay.

Hello all I’m just wondering if anyone has ever sued a dr before. I’ve a terrible experience not once not twice but 5 times I’ve had 1 hip replacment and 2 hip revisions and then an emergency 6 days ago as I dislocated my hip for the second time. And his excuse was always the same I dont know why when i see him in his office he makes u sit and wait hrs then once in the room he doesnt examine u or touch u look at ur scar or insicion he rolls his eyes at u then pulls his phone and starts texting. I can never understand what hes talking about he talks to me like I’m a doctor and if I’m stupid. I’ve seen him 12 or more time in 2018 alone. And my implant has failed 3 times and he couldnt be bothered because he wasnt on call and was his weekend off. So I had to lay in a bed for 4 days with a dislocated hip was rushed to three different hospitals and those 2 other drs could pop my hip back in. I have th worst pain and suffering I’ve been through so much trauma and depression anxiety my 11 yr old is traumatized through all this we both have to see a councler for our ptsd. I just dont understand I follow all his orders and nothing is working I’m waiting on a second opinion cause honestly I cant keep living in fear and I cant do anything work drive do family activities nothing. I’m pretty much disabled now and its killing me to live this way pls if anyone has any type of advice thank u

I’ve had doctors and the like who did seem to care. Not enough of them, but they exist. But this article would have us believe that the only reason any doctor is indifferent is because of the moneybags behind them. I’m sorry, but when a doctor sends you home with a useless prescription that’s the same one that didn’t work before and no suggestion how to treat symptoms while waiting for the meds to hopefully kick in… when they walk in looking at your kid’s chart instead of the kid and tell you a plump toddler is underweight… when they see you for a painful cyst and tell you to lose weight to fix it, then laugh incredulously when you ask for more specific information on how to do that because they thought telling you to “just eat 3/4 of what you’re eating now” (she never asked what I was eating already) was solid medical advice… when they charge you a copay to say it might be a cyst and another to say “yep, it sure is” and send you somewhere else…

When they just generally treat the symptoms because they don’t feel the need to find the cause, but still send you home suffering in hopes that your misery will be relieved in a few days IF they guessed right, it’s hard to have much confidence or entirely put that on the finances.

And don’t think I don’t blame the system, too. What other business expects you to pay for an educated guess and then, if that guess doesn’t work, instead of a refund for the faulty service expects you to now pay for another guess? You didn’t have illness A. Silly us, let’s treat illness B. Not let’s test for it first. Treatment A failed so now you pony up for treatment B. I’ve gotten more honest business dealings at a car dealership.

The surgery scheduler called my cell while at work. I can’t have my phone out during work, I’ll get written up! I called back. I was transferred then had to leave a message. I was called back again then able to pick up the call. I was scolded for not answering the first time.
Excuse Me! I’m in pain but I have to be at work to have my medical insurance. Who the f does she think she is?!
The narcissistic attitudes in the medical profession are the reason the average joe only goes as a last resort. That and the ever skyrocketing costs to the patient. The average physician makes over $200K /yr. I don’t make a quarter of that. My medical bills total over 20% of my annual income and I haven’t even had the surgery yet!

I tried telling doctors for several years that I was in severe pain. No one listened (5 doctors). I ended up having emergency gallbladder surgery for a gallstone that was nearly 8cm, and had infection pockets throughout my abdomen.

The entire time doctors and PAs brushed it off as nothing. One doctor even told me that the hard stuff that hurt me so much was my fat.

That violates or rights to be comfortable who’s body does it belong to? It is abuse to the patients… Ignorance, treats them like addicts when there are evidence of pain from surgery or overlooked.. lies about the x-rays results.. forcing to sign papers for pain meds and urine test knowing it will lead to further problems. That is violating my rights or any other persons rights when asking for help.. people are suffering and they’re controlling us and make us suffer why? If I need something to make my day more bearable do I have a right to get it? Stress factors creates more problems when drs refuses or denies giving prescriptions.

I am currently experiencing the terrible state of the medical industry due to the fact that my 73 year old mother was admitted to the hospital on Sunday. When she was admitted, she was walking, talking, and aware of her surroundings and herself, and now she’s delirious, in the ICU and very well may die. I am not saying that the current condition she is in is entirely the hospital’s fault, but the treatment she, I, and my sister have received since her admission is just downright upsetting.

It started out that my mom had pain in her shoulder and back. It was bothering her for awhile, but she thought she was just having an arthritis flare and was hesitant about seeing a doctor. (Now I understand why). A brief history of my mom, she has had numerous stomach surgeries over the years due to ulcers, and she has no spleen. These surgeries all took place at the hospital where she is, and actually the hospital I was born in. So we get to the ER and they did some tests and the nurse immediately states that based on what he saw, although he is not a doctor suggested sepsis and a blood clot. The whirlwind of the ER consisted of them giving her a strong narcotic, (she weighs 99 pounds) and it took the pain away, but made her nauseous. As my poor mother started to dry heave, NOBODY would help her. I looked out into the lobby trying to get someone’s attention and they just stared at me. Finally, since my mom was about to puke in her hand, I screamed, “my mother is throwing up! Somebody help!” so a rude nurse comes in, looks at me like I’m crazy, tells me to calm down, and points to where the vomit bags are. I grab one for my mom, and as she is dry heaving into the bag, the ER doc comes in and starts rattling off her test results, WHILE she is throwing up and totally stoned out on Dilaudid.

Cut to her being admitted to a room. She had to use the bathroom because they pumped her with so much fluid she couldn’t hold it in (she was dehydrated) but she was hooked up to IVs and needed the nurse to help. I hit the call button multiple times and finally someone came in after at least 10 minutes, ONLY when I went to the nurses station and demanded they come in.

Now we are on day 7, and she has been diagnosed with kidney failure, sepsis, and pneumonia. Her doctor is arrogant and dismissive, and it’s at a point where I believe he is trying to prove me wrong, because he does not want me to question him. I can’t get a straight answer, except that her kidney function is improving, however when I call the nurse, they are more honest and tell me my mom is repeatedly yanking out her feeding tube and IVS, her breathing is questionable, and she only knows her name but does not know where she is or anything else. I have told them multiple times she does not like the feeding tube, because due to all her ulcer surgeries, it’s like she almost has PTSD from it. The doctor’s phone calls change every day. One minute he says her breathing is better, the next day he says that it is bad. One day he says they may put her in a coma, next day he says her kidney function is improving . (by how much I wonder) and they also gave her too much potassium and are now trying to get that out of her system. She is just a shell of who she was when she went in, and I believe she will probably die or be severely brain damaged if she survives. When the doctor called me yesterday, he asked me where did my mom have all her ulcer surgeries? UM, the hospital where she is currently staying! It’s just maddening, and the flippant, non answers are just getting to me. I also may lose my mom, or if she does survive she will be so messed up at this point she probably won’t live. Like a few others stated, I believe my mom is a “guinea pig” and they just keep pummeling her with medications to see what sticks.

I questioned myself like maybe I was being overemotional because she may die. but over the last few days I have met others at the hospital who are just as upset. One woman’s husband had been in there 4 days and had not seen an actual doctor, and another woman’s mother was in there for 7 days and had never seen the same doctor twice. When my sister questioned the doctor, he asked her if she was a scientist for a living or if not, what did she do for a living, because he needed to figure out how to explain his procedures to her based on his job. Total condescending jerk to my sister who is just seriously worried about my mom. When this whole nightmare is over, whether she dies or comes out of it a completely changed person, I will be reporting this hospital. I realize my mother is one of many patients, but seriously at this point I only trust the nurses. (the ones that are not rude). This is a nice hospital (supposed to be) and my mom has excellent insurance. I know she is not the only patient in the world, but the bedside manner and total arrogance of her doctor is just mind-blowing. And if she dies, I am sure he will not ever blame himself. Thanks for listening/reading!

Anne, I am so saddened by your post and what both you and your mother are going through. I surely hope that she is doing much better today and you’re getting better care and compassion out of the hospital staff now. I swear the bedside manner has gone out to pasture and all the MD’s care about is their pride and paycheck! I have personally lost all faith in the medical profession (except for the nurses) who seem to be far more compassionate than the doctors they work for. I will pray for you and your mom and a good outcome.

I am so saddened to read your story. And it’s disappointing reading everyone else’s stories. My mother died recently and it was all due to the bad medications and bad local healthcare system, where we live in NY.

These doctors will also try to BLAME family members of the patients, when it comes to anything going wrong. They will try to make family members out to be incompetent, neglectful abusers.

Doctors by nature are HYPER-COMPETITIVE, and the bad ones can turn into highschool bullies. Doctors are only human and can be prone to error, like anyone else.

Verbally NOTIFY friends, relatives, neighbors, colleagues and clients (without any record of it). As well as, 1000s of people on all of your personal and private Social Media accounts. Only allow it to be published privately amongst followers or anonymously on public forums. Because now DOCTORS and healthcare workers are becoming SUE HAPPY and can accuse you of slander or harassment.

Because I talked about the horrible healthcare system that my family endured recently, I got INCREDIBLE advice and knowledge from others who TRULY helped us out! This was information that I never knew about. Even from other doctors and healthcare workers that I’ve known for years, but never said anything to before. People are busy with their own lives and unless you bring up these issues, no one else can help you. You have to continuously be vocal on a personal level.

I avoid the medical industry and medications at all costs, unless it is a life & death situation.

But don’t avoid Medical care, when you or loved ones really need it. Or else it can get worse to the point where you cannot handle it anymore.

And don’t rely on Public Reviews or friends’ suggestions/ criticisms. They’re not always accurate. Just test every option out there. That’s the only way.

We personally have had horrible experiences with FEMALE doctors in NY…. that’s not to say all female doctors are bad. We particularly stick to certain types of Indian male doctors, as we’ve had the least issues with them. We had one or two horrible Indian doctors, but they were very diff. from the other Indian doctors.

Good doctors and their staff will never ever stress you out or make you upset in any way, shape or form. Their demeanor should be calm. Yelling, aggressive behavior by staff or any maltreatment or incompetence can be illegal and should be reported to their particular field’s Ethics Committee, local and state Depts. of Health, District Attorneys, State Attorney Gen’l, U.S. Attorney Gen’l, any Politician or gov’t authorities…. even sometimes the Police.

When my dad went through surgery without the hospital notifying us… we went ahead and filed a Missing Person’s Report with the Police, because the hospital would not notify us of his whereabouts, even though we were listed as Healthcare Proxy.

The amount of abuse that we have been through for the past year by (some, not all) NY’s healthcare system with both my elderly parents has been HORRIFYING and nerve-wracking, to say the least. Including by the ICU dept. at one Nationally Ranked top hospital in Manhattan. But not all of our negative experiences were with one location.

My mother was also a highly intelligent Registered Nurse and stopped working because of health problems and the cruel way hospital administrators worked her to the bone.

Last year, my elderly father was aggressively pushed into doing a very dangerous surgery (in what seemed to be a very nice, beautiful county in upstate middle NY), without properly explaining the medical problem and robbing him of getting a second opinion.

One of the female doctors was screaming and yelling that he would “die,” which is illegal for a doctor to say, and yelled at him to get off the phone with me when he was in the patient room at the hospital talking to me.

Later on, I was accosted by another female doctor, demanding and commanding to know why my father was refusing some other medical service that he did not want and that we, his family, were all opposed to.

Then after his surgery, he had to stay at rehabilitation centers (in upstate NY), some of which were also Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) aka Nursing Homes. One ALF tried to use extortion and get my father’s financial, SOCIAL SECURITY and PENSION information (including calling his employer for the info) and tried to convince my dad to sell our family home that my mother was still living in at the time…. all in order to LOCK him up in an expensive Nursing Home.

They tried to convince him that he had all kinds of problems. But when we FINALLY got him home, we noticed he had NONE of the physical problems they claimed he would have if he had stayed at home instead of an ALF/ nursing home. That’s probably because he was no longer DRUGGED up and weak, like he was at the local hospital & rehabilitation centers that treated him as handicap, rather than really rehabilitating him.

That particular ALF who tried to EXTORT my father out of his money was also ranked with 1 star (which typically means 0 stars) in U.S. News Reports that gives Rankings within different industries.

After that, we had to take my dad to a local Physical Therapy center. We went through 4 different local Physical Therapy centers because there was some sort of maltreatment or miscommunication or just plain incompetence, especially on the administrative side (aka buffoon receptionists they hired cheaply).

You also have to be careful about the MEDICATIONS. Typical medications by different pharmacies can seriously debilitate you, especially elderly folks. You need to sometimes reduce the dosage… none of which our old doctors notified us about.

We had to find out all this on our own or from FRIENDS who had better inside knowledge of the medical industry.

After having all these horrible experiences, we finally found a GREAT doctor, whose medications had the same names as the previous meds by the previous doctors, but did not seem to have the same bad side effects.

Which led me to believe that you can’t trust certain PHARMACIES, either. The NEW doctor’s pharmacy gave meds with the SAME names, but NO side effects.

This new doctor was also NOT LOCAL. We had to drive to a different nearby county to find this doctor, but it was well worth it. We are very happy with him and his staff is wonderful.

Don’t be fearful and don’t stick to what you’ve been USE TO when it comes to healthcare. You should never ever trust anyone completely. BE SKEPTICAL.

Even good doctors are fed up with the bad ones. But they sometimes can’t tell you. So, it’s up to you to find what’s right.

People definitely have to try DIFFERENT hospitals and doctors and healthcare workers, before finding even close to the right ones.

Seeing the doc is not the same as it was even a decade ago. It’s become the norm (at least in all of San Diego county) that doctors don’t care, you pay to have them talk to you condescendingly, and to probably get told you can’t afford treatment or that you’re not “old enough” or “it’s very rare that…” and sent on your way. I went to three doctors at one occasion until the third one reaffirmed what I told the first (god-complex-full) doctor I suspected. Then they too acted like I was an idiot for not being seen sooner…even though I had TWICE! Thousands of dollars and weeks worth of time down the drain throughout my adult life. I still have medical issues that are mirror images of what my older family is going through but can’t find a doctor that will listen let alone do the tests. I’ll admit not many to find at $80 per visit after paying a huge sum to insurance every month as it is. I try to be “smart” about only going into the doctor when I truly feel it’s important to prevent worsening. I want to be healthy as possible for my child. Yet any time it seems some doctor or nurse has to tell me I’m an idiot or being dramatic for being there! And I literally stayed away from the doctor for many years because I couldn’t afford to be seen. Now I rarely ever go and still that’s how I get treated. Even when I have had all symptoms of a heart attack and other problems I try not to go because what’s the point? They’ll just tell me I’m too young (under 50) or to go to physical therapy for pains that even the physical therapist says I need looked into…The neurologist is the kindest I’d met so far agreeing I have signs of stroke “at my young age” and need to get a scan done but my insurance is charging thousands of dollars I don’t have, my 20 year old car I need to get to work and appointments could crap out at any moment. That part is bad about the system, but there are plenty of doctors that should not be. Half the doctors I have had are from other countries and can barely speak English- after waiting half a year to be seen how can I just “reschedule” with someone else??? I even know some people from college that are now doctors and should not be. Most are some of the most unethical people, and unintelligent as well. It’s terrifying. The issues with medical school and health insurance have become monstrously worse in such a short amount of time. The greed of people that could change things is a contributor for certain, but most people are helpless to trigger a movement. So there it is. Letting our doctors kill us by neglect or malpractice. If anything- I try to really give props to any medical professional that seems to care and do a thorough job. (So about 2/50 in the last five years for my family).

100% agree with you on every point. I also grew up or went to school/ college with people who are now doctors…. and they were the most vile bullies, even to this day. No morals or ethics. These doctors or their arrogant family members who like to boast are now bragging about the expensive cars these doctors are driving or that the male doctors have women falling at their feet or brag that they randomly saved someone’s life while on some expensive vacation. That makes me distrust doctors even more! So, now when I go see a doctor, I’m thinking, “This visit is paying for his 4th new ferrari or billion dollar mansion…” They also hire people to post fake positive public reviews, making not only medical doctors but other healthcare professionals like Physical Therapists or even Optometrists look like gods/ heroes/ saints. That’s why you can’t trust public reviews, especially ones that give all these perfect ratings. If a profession relies on public reviews, more so than PRIVATE REFERRALS…. then run away! REAL professionals don’t NEED public reviews to be VALIDATED.

I trust my naturopathic doctor and the one MD I have found in the past decades who is an integrative medicine family physician. They both listen.
They both work with me. I have yet to find other MDs who don’t yell at me when I object to something, or act dismissive, or push medicines I have had adverse reactions to, or who don’t instantly argue with me when I explain about a side effect. I have now been branded as “antiscientific” because of my lack of trust in physicians who do not take individual effects of strong pharmaceuticals into account, and who ignore concerns I have about the effects of others. I have caught many MDs in outright lies about side effects or diagnoses they may have given me, and about potential problems with invasive diagnostic testing. This makes me dig in and trust less rather than reassure me about worries I have, because then I don’t have any way to figure out who in the medical profession is lying to get their way, or who has been brainwashed into believing that there are no such thing as problem side effects, as opposed to a healthy reassurance that I don’t need to worry about something.

Even the side effects of pharmaceuticals can seriously create more health issues. Doctors act like they don’t believe it, rationalize it, or just outright lie about them. I’m still suffering from damage from a drug I was taking from an internist from almost a year ago. He acted as if my questionable health was occurring already, when it was the med that actually caused serious issues. In the very least, that was a misdiagnosis. I have made complaints about this doctor, and no one has done anything about it.

I’ve decided to not go back to the doctors. It’s like they like watching you suffer. Hey doc, I have this problem… “So? Go to CVS and buy some motrin.” Nah, never occurred to me to do that. Or hey, I have this problem “Go to G.N.C.” Been there, and tried that. If you aren’t actually going to treat me, what is the point? I’m not paying money to be treated like crap. The last time a loved one was in the hospital the condensation was almost too much to take. I’m actually considering buying “pet” rodents and buying any medication I would need from the dark web, and then testing the medication on the rodents. You guys stick to your guns and continue with this, I guarantee the suicide rate in this country will triple.

I have a very good doctor. i had to fire a lot of doctors before I found him.

Recently my granddaughter was sick and went to her doctor. He thought she might be having a problem with her gallbladder. He sent her to a specialist for further diagnosis. The “specialist” didn’t even check anything. No tests, no nothing. He said we will remove her gallbladder ASAP. See his receptionist to schedule surgery. We ran out of his office and never went back.

Last Thursday my wife had a mild head injury and the hospital could not determine what happened so they sent us to another hospital for more tests. The doctor at this new hospital could find nothing wrong but said she will die in 1 to 3 days. Today is 5 days later and she feels fine.

Agreed. My dad hasn’t been to the doctors in forever. He is one of the healthiest people I know and he is against going unless it’s 100% an emergency. Won’t take crazy medications, I wanted him checked for cancer years ago but he doesn’t even see a point. (Several family meme era died during cancer treatment). He would rather die not suffering while blowing the rest of his money. Doctors kill by neglect and malpractice and it’s depressing to pay so much money (and time) to be ignored or given poor advice.

I really feel for you! I too have no trust for doctors due to some bad experiences involving members of my family and myself. Some doctors really do have the hubris to believe that just because they can’t find it, it (the problem in the physiology of the body) does not exist. What I believe is that they just don’t know where and how to look, or that there may not be a precise definitive test available yet. I got so greatly fed up that I began to educate myself

Cancer will make you suffer if untreated. My brother stopped treatment and tumors popped up all over his body one side of his body would be cold and one would be hot. Even profalatic (sp) treatment will make the last days more comfortable. They also have meds to treat side effects of cancer drugs but people need to ask before bad things happen not when they are suffering

while my primary care physician does care whats going on the specialists seem to have tunnel vision.
I have afib, tachy, bradycardia, irregularly irregular arrhythmia. with occasional sinus pauses and svt.

yet they are focusing on the afib and prescribing me with brutally expensive blood thinners
it seems to me that they are not reading all the information.
I am not a doctor but i do have a good acumen of medical knowledge.
as a possible guess this is pointing to sick sinus syndrome!

im 58 years old and slightly obese (but not dangerously so)
my cholesterol is low but they put me on a statin that i don’t need.

i have a loop monitor implanted in my chest and after 2 years with it they haven’t a definitive diagnosis.
a cardiologist earns an average of 315,000.00 per year and that’s 10 times more than i make
I don’t get medical assistance and my insurance isn’t that great.
so as you can well imagine even those on medical assistance have it a lot easier than i do.

i will need a pacemaker anyway but why the delay?
I don’t want ablation as the results are not 100 percent effective. I would like to be able to return to work but i cannot do so if im going to be left as a cardiac cripple.
if i need a pacemaker get it done with!

I am frustrated with worker comp situation. Over a year ago I got hurt at work and continue to need to have test after test done. I was filling an order at local burger chain no mats anywhere anywhere in this place. I was wearing oil and water resistant shoes and I slipped on grease landed on my left side and lower back. I have had an mri done showed 5 buldging discs 12 weeks of physical theraphy, failed injection both sides, myleogram lumber puncture, nerve conduction studies,6 facet injections they were successful as a test for radio frequency injections failed . I am currently waiting for a vertebral motion analyst test the insurance company denied it. I am 50 years old tired of being their person to experiment on….When I do get to see my doctor he flies in 5 minutes later he flies out it doesnt matter what I say or want he gets his way and I am always left with unanswered questions and my blood pressure issue from all if this mess left untouched.

Not so much. I do appreciate there was a weak attempt, but we’d have to be blind not to know there’s a problem. What the article says is that it’s everyone’s fault but the doctor, and that I don’t buy. The people in charge don’t tell doctors not to give a damn.

Doctors are for profit only, They have proven that by saying ” we don’t treat the cause, only the symptoms and then pride themselves on pushing pill after pill. ” They say “We can take the tests but will not do anything about them and they don’t. Our entire healthcare system is a failure. It’s pathetically being allowed to continue this way, while the professionalism in this profession slowly fades but continues to provide its destruction. By creating puppets for profit. What a sick system. Human life is no longer valued and medical morals and ethics for public health has went right out the window.

Preach. I have a tolerably good doctor now, but even she wasn’t much help this past month. I have a cyst in my jaw and the runaround I’ve been getting to get it removed boggles the mind. $50 to an ENT to say it might be a cyst, go get a scan that an oral surgeon already said I should get. Then another $50 to the ENT to say yeah, it’s a cyst, go have the oral surgeon take it out!

In the UK they are not! An IPSOS poll in 2107 showed that, when asked if they woukd trust a professional to tell them the truth, doctors came just second place to nurses — 91% vs 94% for nurses. And ahead of every other profession, in spite of changes in public attitudes to figures of authority.

Humans are not living longer. This is science-medical spin. Studies of ancient Egyptian and South American mummies reveal longevity was high for those with good living conditions. So, the age has not changed, what has???

Simple really, improvements in sanitation, hygiene and nutrition meant that the ‘death window’ from birth to five years of age, so common with poor living conditions was closed and so we have more people surviving childhood and therefore more older people.

Any study of ancestry will reveal, that when people had large families – 12-20 kids, as they did in the past, and when they began to survive the first five years, that deaths would be staggered across accident and disease, ranging from mid adulthood to the nineties and beyond. Which is the case today.

What we have today however, is more serious and chronic illness, worse in children, than we have ever had before and that says, whatever modern medicine might do, it does not provide good health.

You’re a nitwit. People had families that size in hopes a few would survive. And a family with that many kids now might blow people’s minds but we’d also expect every last one to reach adulthood. I may be pissed at doctors and the medical business but I don’t delude myself into thinking we don’t live longer. Of course longevity is high for people with good living conditions. Because they have access to medical care.

I’m so tired of our ” healthcare” system. I’m a 25yo male, and I’ve been having more blood than urine coming out of me every other day. I’ll get a really sharp pain that goes from my bladder all the way down my urethra, then generally an hour or 2 after that I will try and urinate, but instead of urine, a large amount of blood ( and what looks like a chunk of flesh) comes out of me. I’ve been trying to get help for 3 months now, and nobody has done a thing to help me. I’ve been to multiple ERs ( they are worthless for me. Just a cat scan and blood/urine test, even after I said it was all already done before). I tried to get in to see a urologist, but I had to wait 2 months for the closest opening. THEN they claimed that the referral from TWO different ERs wasn’t good enough and I needed one from my doctor. I’m angry and upset because they waited 2 months to tell me this. Why didn’t you tell me in the first place, you know? Like they just wasted my time, and put my life in even more risk than I already was facing. I call my doctor and explain what’s happening and just ask if she’ll give me a referral so I can get help. Nope, she won’t give me a referral unless I make an appointment and go see her ( probably so she can charge me out the ass for a piece of paper). I try to make an appointment, and they tell me that she won’t be able to see me until MARCH OF NEXT YEAR. There is no way I will survive another half year as my condition is getting worse as time goes on, and its only a matter of time before it becomes lethal. So I ofcourse go looking everywhere just hoping someone will have enough morality to just give me a piece of paper so I can get help. Nobody will help me. The earliest appointment I found isn’t until the 27th of next month, and after that I will probably have to wait another 2 months to get into the urologist. At this point I have lost all hope, and I’m just done with it all. If it wasn’t for my loved ones, especially my girl, than I would just say screw it and let it take me, but I love my girl and family too much to just give into this. I have insurance and everything, but it was all pointless because nobody was willing or able to help me anyways. All I asked for was a bit of time, some help, and a piece of paper… but that was too much apparently. I have no trust in ANY doctor anymore, and at this point it is ridiculous to claim that they are motivated by anything other than money. If doctors were motivated because they cared for their patients, then they would be doing more to help fix this situation. As it is, it is hard for me to believe that any of the doctors I saw actually cared for me, because in the end every single one just left my condition for worsen, and a whole 2 out of the many many doctors I saw actually tried to help me find someone who cared enough and had the skills to actually take the time to actually see what is wrong with my body. I’ll ask you this… why should I trust any of you after what you’ve put me and my loved ones through? Don’t even get me started on the fact that doctors almost killed my sister, or the fact that they wanted to keep cutting into my grandpa ( and accused my mom of causing his death after she refused to allow them to hurt him even more… and he didn’t even want them to touch him in the first place) even after it was obvious that they were only making him worse. My grandpa died because of doctors in my eyes. All because they needed to make some money off him before he died.

Wow, you have every right too be non trusting of Drs, I am to. I have waited almost five months, and I’m not sure even when I see this Neuroligist, he will care.I really hope your situation improves. You are too young to have those kinds of mayor health issues. Drs. Are blood suckers, and just as bad as lawyers or any other Professional, who instead of helping, just turns their back. The Feds need to get out of Drz. Offices, b Sut Drs.jusst also take a stand against this lousy health care system.

Oh my gosh that’s horrible! I’m worried you could get a kidney infection due to their negligence. At the very least, get some D-Mannose & a UTI supplement at whole foods or another broad store. It’s not an antibiotic but it’s something that may reduce severity. Keep pushing though….it’s your right and you don’t want to end up with a kidney infection because it sounds like you have a UTI…urinary infection that is bad.
Good luck! Hang in there.

Are you kidding me!!! It sounds worse than just an infection. Chunks and blood instead of urine? You need to go to your specialist’s office where you have an appointment and announce yourself to the office manager and tell her or him that you need to see the doctor and you will sit and wait because your condition is critical. You must hold your ground and if he/she refuses than make a report to the medical assoc. perhaps through your lawyer.Enough is enough. However if you live in Canada I doubt
Anything will work. Good luck!

James,
If what you have is some kind of UTI, you might want to try taking cranberry pills and loads of vitamin C. This didn’t work for me at first, so the people at the health food store told me to take twice as much Vit. C and it worked like a charm. I hope this helps you.

I have has issue’s with a number of doctors both good and bad. My biggest issue is this. When a Doctor orders a test, I always ask what is the cost of this procedure. 100% of the time they have no idea. The next question I ask my doctor is if they went to the grocery store, and nothing was priced, and they got the price once they went through the register, would they shop there. 100% of the time the answer is no. Then I ask, so how is this any different from what I asked earlier? Strangely no reply to my question but they than ask don’t have insurance? Like that pays 100% of any procedure.! Perhaps if doctors had a better understanding of costs we would feel a little more trusting of them!

The simple answer: Legal Liability.
The decisions doctors and hospitals make can trigger astronomically expensive lawsuits. Every test, regardless of cost, must be ordered. Every decision, every diagnosis can be scrutinized. Consultation with other doctors, referral to a specialist may reduce liability , and the patient pays the cost.
We insist on zero risk. Emotion, assumptions, not reason, drives litigation.
1. We assume that bad outcomes must have a cause. We reject the role of chance, randomness, coincidence, events impossible to anticipate. We need someone or something to blame.
2. We can’t put a dollar value to life. But we reject limits or caps on settlements or awards.
We demand justice and fairness….but interpretations vary widely. There is an increasing distrust of doctors, of legal system, of government. We devalue expertise, experience.

Legal Liability isn’t necessary if many doctors followed the OATH they signed. Its a contract for life, not a job you half ass. By that i mean this isn’t a job where once you go home you forget about it. as per your statement “We reject the role of chance, randomness, coincidence, events impossible to anticipate”
Scientists have already researched the human body thoroughly and its interactions with drugs, nutrition, heavy metals, poisons, toxins, bacteria, viruses, and genetics.

Its part of the OATH to better yourself in the knowledge provided by scientists so you can do better everyday. We devalue expertise, and experience because every doctor can say i have experience, but not every doctor can show it. Its all inflation of ego. Approach this with an open mind sir. Hold everyone accountable to their jobs, Even doctors. If they truly love this field they will seek mastery, they will seek
up-to date knowledge, they will strive for better patient outcomes. and they will strive to be the best. A perfect example ego is when a obese doctor tells you to lose weight. They demand we listen, but they don’t even listen to their own bodies. Simply because they “know more”. They give you drugs to take, but don’t listen to your side effects, because they “know more”.

You got it! I have heart disease, one kidney and a whole lot of Edema. When I complained about a large amount of sudden weight gain, nobody even acknowledged that some of that weight is from fluid. My abdomen is larger and my left leg is 3 times the size of my right leg when I am full of fluid.
The only thing that showed up on my for profit clinic’s notes was “not following dietary recommendations”.

Not only that, but hey, I’ve been homeless and living in a tent. What kind of dietary recommendations do you have for THAT? Oh right….”lose weight”. Don’t worry that my heart and kidney aren’t pumping out the poisonous fluids in my body. Just make sure you tell me that I’m fat.

Interesting that there are so many comments here on an old article–shows how frustrated many of us are with this issue. I’ve had some good doctors and some bad ones–they are not all bad by any means. Still, I think the level of public frustration does indicate that there are large problems with medical care in the U.S.

One thing that strikes me is that there are a lot of excuses from doctors about how much is expected of them, how they receive pressure from so many sources, etc. etc. What I don’t get about this is that these complaints about being pressured are coming from a bunch of very well-educated, very well-paid people! Good heavens, whining docs, if you are feeling powerless to change things, just imagine how powerless your low-income, marginalized patients must feel! If you truly believe that the system is getting in the way of your ability to provide caring treatment for your patients, how about taking some action that might help the situation, like getting together with other doctors to seek real reform? Unless/until you do this, I think we’re all going to conclude (perhaps rightly) that a lot of you are motivated mainly by a desire for money and/or prestige rather than a desire to help people.

I totally agree with Mary. I worked at a hospital and you learn a lot after 23 years. There were doctors making more money by coding a physical on a patients that were not done. Some new doctors are money hungry when they start and they order many tests. Not all doctors are like this. It seems to be more relevant in today’s society. I saw a new doctor, because my other doctor retired (he was so nice). I didn’t click with this new doctor. I was told I had a bladder infection and put on antibiotics. I had no symptoms. I saw my report and nothing was mentioned about the bladder infection. The report had spelling errors and mistakes (I was a medical transcriptionist). I needed a new Psychiatrist. The doctor said I had to find one, because he was only family practice. He was worried about my psychotropic medications; I told him I understood. This was in April 2019. I had been looking for a psychiatrist before this. One I found retired before my appointment. Another one had bad reviews. In May 2019 my husband had double-knee surgery. He developed pulmonary emboli and almost died. He was in ICU and a regular room. Then, we found out my husband was allergic to heparin (he had been given a large bolus). He also had shots of Lovenox in his stomach. His platelet count was dangerously low. He was diagnosed with “HITS” (allergy to heparin – 3-5% of the population). During May-Aug, I definitely had no time to search for a Psychiatrist. In between this, my new doctor wasn’t going to prescribe my psychotropic meds. I called a Pharmacist, who said he had to “bridge” me in between. I started looking for Psychiatrists again. People don’t realize that this is actually a long process and it is hard to find a Psychiatrist. I had an upcoming appointment with doctor Oct. 2019 (I cancelled and quit). About 3 weeks, ago (without any communication from the clinic or my doctor), the doctor decided, on his own, to “cold turkey” me off a psychotropic med that I found out is a drug that is very dangerous to “cold turkey”. He also decided to cut all of my other psychotropic medications to smaller doses. I have been on most of these meds. for about 10 years. Still, I did not find out until I tried to order through the prescription mail order or pick them up. There was absolutely no communication to me about these changes. I called the clinic to ask what was happening; I spoke with nurses. They told me that the doctor wrote the drug he was going to be tapered. This was never told to me. When I checked online (med mail order) after the drug name was the word “quit”. Due to the “cold turkey” of this med, I became extremely sick in about 2 days and am still sick from this, but getting better. I could not sleep, was very irritable, could do nothing in or out of the house, plus more. I then made an appointment with an Internist at a different clinic. She put me back on all of my correct doses again and is tapering me upwards on the bad withdrawal drug. In the meantime, I wrote an email to Patient Relations about this. They said they would look into it and there would be a meeting with the Medical Officer. I received a letter in the mail which stated my doctor was not at fault, because he referred me to a Psychiatrist (which he never did), plus that had nothing to do with the abrupt ending of my drug and dose-cutting of the others. The had no remorse for the horrible withdrawal symptoms, which I would never wish upon anyone. I said that this doctor was not compassionate and neglectful. I had even called the clinic about my husband to let them know it would be a little longer to find a Psychiatrist. I saw there were NP’s (psychiatry) who prescribe meds. I was always looking for Psychiatrists. I am having my new Internist refer me to who I chose; I can get an appt. in Oct. I emailed back to Patient Relations, after receiving their decision. I told them that the doctor lied. I do not believe there was a meeting or that the Medical Officer was involved. There was no cc: on the letter. Even though this will be stressful for me, I cannot let this be brushed under the rug. Patient Relations has not emailed me back; I don’t think they will. I am going to have to go further on this one, due to everything that happened. Does anyone know a reliable organization I can contact about this mess? I feel the doctor needs disciplinary action and other patients need to know. I am not sure the best way to handle this situation in an efficient, thorough investigation, with the most well-known medical organization that strong and the most helpful. Thanks and sorry I had to type so much information.

I would like to cut-in right here, where there is approximately 10 replies to the article on trusting doctors, written & published nearly 2 years ago. Please bear with me while I front-load heavily before finally landing on my point… So taking a step back, focusing on the waves and pockets of time whereby replies here seem greater in number, over uneven & random over irregular pockets of time. The pattern intensifies the closer you get to Halloween 2019, and replies flourish in multiple measures in just the last few months. I see replies, some on-point and some not so on-point. I will avoid dividing people and setting myself up for negative response, but any reply plays into the observation I hope is widely agreeable. (bear with here).

I’m part of a popular medical group SO CAL, have been for decades. The “system program” has undergone dramatic change over the last 3 years. Some of that for disguise and some to cover the past with a new face for BS to come… For me, healthcare in general began deteriorating when my almost life-long “neighborhood doctor”, retired. As said in a previous reply, I didn’t click with the new doctor as “Dr. K” said I would. It has been a landslide ever since. A decade later, I finally needed a doctor for more than antibiotics and other basic prescriptions…

Nearly 15 months ago at the age of 52, I injured by back which forced me to go into the ER. This is where living Hell on Earth, in these United States began for me. Two herniated discs, compressed nerve roots, 2 types of spondylitis, Bertolottis syndrome, radiculopathy from L5 to toes, and more. I have pain every day with periods of level 8+ pain every few weeks. I carry with me reams of documents to support the information trail of primary care physicians used, surgeons, neurologists seen, PT’s, CT scans, ultra-sounds, MRI’s, and x-rays I have encountered in the last 12 months. No less than 10 different doctors, specialists or other. Yesterday I saw a rheumatologist for the first time for assistance with RA (cropped up since the injury). After 20 minutes, I walked out beside myself with anger. I was told I have “no clear package of all the symptoms”. This after he acknowledged visible nodes and deformation of the hands and other joints. And while holding a half-inch thick stack of test results sating the above. Today my journey continues with no help, no medication worth taking and no clear diagnosis for any in-system healthcare provider to secure his/her risk in taking my symptoms on any further than anyone prior.

One of the replies above touches on my point still to be made. When was the last time anyone did anything for you in good form, to expectation and equal to money you paid? Someone above began a short list of professionals but I extend that and couch it in 2 categories with a subcategory for outcome: Government, Corporate America and society. All in decline. All in cover-your-ass mode. All receiving the better end in the exchange. All worried about liability in many directional forms, all assessed on a potential loss per their insurance policies or other entity. All driving up costs while affected society generates more individuals with these attributes PRE-INSTALLED.

How many more Enron’s? How many more rights stripped away? How many more laws created simply to cheat the public? How many more tax dollars for stupid impeachments? How many more sea turtles will steal attention away from real, serious matters left to grow worse? What is next that will affect our families adversely? how many people need to die? How many more cover-ups for those that abuse power and extort us with money? How many doctors, lawyers or professors’ achieved the position across the desk from you used extortion to enter the institution of education that granted their way there?

How much more, period??

The entire system is the root cause of almost all of the issues we face, daily. And you know what? I assume most of us at some point and maybe not long ago where told by someone that all of this was coming. My real doctor as I mentioned above (Mr. “K”) was correct. Enjoy retirement Mr. K.

I’m with you. I worked at a very large hospital in New York State and I rotated between labs: Chemistry, Microbiology, Pathology, and Hematology. I also worked in the morgue. When they say: “Doctors bury their mistakes,” it is TRUE! My opinion of American medical services totally changed after working in various hospitals. In the U.S., doctors do seem to think that they are a GOD.

I remember one time in the Chemistry lab that we received results about patients’ chemistry results. Our supervisor kept calling up to the lab (this was also a teaching hospital – which I’d advise anyone to stay away from, if possible because student doctors have egos that will explode the hospital – not to mention the patient). The supervisor kept telling this arrogant little student doctor that he had to take the patient off magnesium IVs. The doctor said: “I’m the doctor, you’re not.” Our supervisor told the baby doctor that the patient would die in the next two days if he did not withdraw the IV. The doctor arrogantly kept doing it. Two days later, the patient died. And the doctor never got in trouble. This is only one example.

Another situation I observed was a patient who was undergoing a heart transplant. Now, I’m sure they did not tell the patient that he was a guinea pig. It was one of the most awful things I knew about. The doctors could not get the patient’s heart to beat on its own. They put him back under anesthesia. He woke up and found himself still on the pump, his chest cut wide open and they called his family in. He was horrified, tried to climb off the table and they kept pushing him back. He was screaming, “They’re killing me, they’re killing me.” Then they put him under anesthesia again.

Needless to say, he died. It was a very traumatic experience. This was several decades ago, but the risk is always there. Since I worked in the morgue (pathology) also, I saw many, many patients who died from doctors’ mistakes.

Too many people idolize doctors. They have no clue how little training they get. Not to mention that they hardly know anything about drugs. It is the drug salesman who sells them on drugs to use. They do not know the CHEMISTRY of drugs, nor how they affect the body, and how many will kill you. Combining drugs without consulting a pharmacist is a recipe for death by doctor.

Not only do doctors look down on those who know MORE than them in fields that are absolutely imperative to patient care, they are not even trained in these areas. Our Chemistry lab was filled with professionals. Just like pharmacists, they knew which chemicals when combined with other chemicals would kill a patient. But the doctors didn’t know – in fact, they made fun of the professionals in pharmacy and chemistry. A pharmacist IS a chemist. They can immediately tell you which two or three medications combined will transform into something else and help or kill the patient.

Honestly, I am scared of doctors now. When I do see one, I speak up. Of course, they think I’m stupid because I don’t have an M.D. (Mediocre Doctor) behind my name. But I am a professional, and I have seen way too many deaths by doctor.

The U.S. has no working alliance with pharmacists (chemists) and doctors. It is IMPERATIVE that doctors work with a chemist (pharmacist) before prescribing. Pharmacists know the molecular structure of each drug and can also diagram how those molecular structures will change if you introduce another drug. Those combinations can be deadly.

I have loads more horrible stories of hospitals. Personally, I would not enter one as a patient unless absolutely necessary. Doctors’ egos are so huge, that they can’t see beyond their own degree (which is not sufficient).

Sadly, patients who are misdiagnosed, mistreated, given the wrong drugs that cause permanent harm, and those who die, do not have a voice that is heard. They are dismissed as “You’re not a doctor; I am.”

My personal gripe is that ALL doctors in training should ALWAYS be teamed up with a pharmacist. Doctors only get one semester of pharmacy and that doesn’t include the chemical composition of the drug and switching molecules around to see what drug becomes another drug when in combination. Pharmacists spend years studying medical chemistry.

American medicine is protected by doctors. They have each other’s back. I have seen much more than I ever wanted to see or know about. Pharmacists should be assigned to a small group of doctors and they should be required to work together. Pharmacists are actually a doctor’s best friend; they can keep them from being sued after killing a patient by consulting with the pharmacist first.

Pharmacists were called “Chemists” in the past – and they still ARE chemists. Doctors are NOT chemists. They are considered diagnosticians, but unfortunately they are not well-trained. Because of my background in the medical field, I will correct a doctor when I know what they are recommending is incorrect. But it is up to me to protect myself.

Anyone who has had a relative or friend die because of a doctor’s misdiagnosis or treatment, should really sue. The U.S. glorifies doctors, but if you saw the training they get, and how they are allowed to plow down other practitioners, you’d know that their ego is bigger than their education.

America is so behind in medical care. Drug companies use doctors’ patients as guinea pigs. Doctors abhor pharmacists, but a pharmacist should be a doctor’s best friend; they can keep a doctor from killing someone and keep them out of jail.

There is so much to this topic. And it is difficult to find out about a doctor’s background and proficiency. It’s really a crap shoot. The U.S. needs to overhaul the medical system, and every doctor should work with the pharmacist before prescribing any medications. At least that part would help save lives.

And as Frank Twist said below, it’s true. Doctors are encouraged to do things in ways that they get rewarded by chemical companies and insurance companies.

Remember, doctors are just people who went to medical school to earn more money and have more power. Very few seem to care about patients.

I hope this helps with an inside view of how doctors and hospitals operate (no pun intended). Thanks.

Follow the trail? Who makes policy? HHS first. Headed by an X pharmaceutical executive. Who does he report to? President and Senate. This war on drugs just produces casualties. The US citizen. The government has never stopped bad behavior. Look at prohibition. There are alternative doctors but they don’t take insurance. Had to mortgage my house to see one of them.
Doctors don’t even touch a patient any more. Some power hungry nurse, who can’t hit a vein, does the intake. Then the surly god-doctor walks in looks at some results by other medical people and says you need surgery.
You know why medical schools don’t use cadavers? The elderly and disabled are the new cadavers! We are expendable. Try to get a lawyer to file a legal action. They take the case and are paid off by the ones you are suing. Lawyers tell you the patient was too old and sick so there wasn’t enough money for them to take the case. An easy $10 -$20k is better than a long trial with no sure outcome.
File a complaint with the UN against the US for human rights violation. Let them fight it out. Withholding medication and treatment is a violation.

I agree. Good post. I worked in a variety of medical settings, and I can attest to the saying: “Doctors bury their mistakes.” It’s true. I also worked in a morgue – so I do know how these people died – often because of the doctor, not their condition.

My husband died because a radiologist specialist did a procedure that he had to make an incision in his side and using some instrument was supposed to go around the liver to the gall bladder but sliced the liver and did not tell anyone. He came out to tell me I should tell the nurses on the floor (???) to give him a NASO Gastric tube. This is a joke right! And he had the nerve to be nasty to me. I didn’t have a chance to say a word to this maniac. He said this to me over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. I had an autopsy on my husband and in the report it stated that the liver was nicked. I guess my husband being 80 was not worth saving. My daughter wanted me to sue however no lawyer would take the case. Beware of these radiologists…they don’t specialize in life.

This is an excellent point, Mary. As a physician, I struggle with this very thing. We used to be independent; autonomous and the only point was getting the proper care to the patient. Now, the majority of us are “owned”; employed by Healthcare corporations or Private Equity Firms. Physicians tend to be rule followers. We are told, “don’t rock the boat”. It takes all of our determination to work in the system and get the patient taken care of when there is an obstacle at every single turn…from insurers, from SDoH, from the actual administrators who have financial conflicts, from the PBMs and GPOs that drive up drug cost and cause shortages; from our legislators who keep on trying to make it better (financially?) but in fact, make it worse; from our own lobby, the AMA, that rarely stands for us and represents less than 20% of us. The good news is the very large and growing mass of disgruntled physicians who are done with following rules and being the “good child”. We are forming grass roots groups to fight the wrongs to our patients. A very large coalition is now making headway in the public and with Capitol Hill; http://www.free2care.org has over 3 million physicians and patients working together. We must ALL stand up and say NO!!

Reader comments still active on this 2017 article so I’ll contribute my 2 cents. Where else are we allowed to share, our true feelings about the current allopathic system? It’s downright dangerous. True statistics are skewed & hidden from the public. Iatrogenic injuries and deaths #’s are staggering. Human ‘error’, neglect, indifference, invasive tests and pharmaceutical drugs are ruining countless lives. I could literally write a book containing the accounts of cruelty, abuse, quackery,deception, neglect, injury, indifference, hatefulness, arrogance, blatant human rights abuses and outright death by medicine, I’ve seen & experienced in my life. The 21st Century Cures Act nullified your right of informed consent. Vaccines are being forced. Our local hospital is where nightmares are born. They’re constantly in the newspaper police blogs for calling police on ‘unruly patients’. Despite causing your loved ones’ severe injury or death, they skip away unscathed and carry on as usual while entire families are being ruined by their callous actions. Most don’t even understand the dangerous drugs they’re prescribing. Most would never take these drugs themselves. Can we trust the overlords ruling our medical system? Why can’t we (average people) have natural health practitioners? “Listening to the doctors orders” -for myself & family members has caused more pain, suffering, ongoing problems, regrets, multiple injuries, a death and guilt. So many families ruined by the oxycontin cartel & other mega wealthy harmaceutical cartels. Gary Null’s book, Death By Medicine relayed that only 5%-20% of iatrogenic incidences are even reported/recorded(self policing). So the problem is much, much worse than our imaginations can allow. We fear allopathy for good reason. We pay attention, do our own extensive research and learn from our mistakes.

Amen Gloria. US Doctors mock and bully their patients and misdiagnose or fail to diagnose due to their own incompetence and prejudice. They are causing their own demise. Just wait. In 20 years the sick care industry will go bust bc people would rather self treat than deal with narcissistic bullies called Medical Dips#%!s. I choose to not treat any further illness I may have bc I won’t deal with them even if it shortens my lifespan.

I am 71 and have been in the Denver area for 3 years. I came from Texas. There my doctors cared and gave me medication that allowed me to lead a normal life. Here no doctor will give me any of the meds that I took on a regular basis. They will give me drugs that make me so foggy headed that I can’t function as a normal person. I choose not to take them because I need the ability to think. So I suffer in daily pain and lack of sleep. Why are all the doctors here so different?

Literally every time I went to a US doctor, no matter what my symptoms were. No testing would be done. And if he told to suck it up and then get a high bill without receiving any service.

Many US “doctors” have a bias of people younger than 50, and older than 10 if they go in with any issues. There’s literally no respect. Just the expectation of getting our money to do nothing.

I’ve always had a lot of issues, and every time I went to a US doctor it was the same thing. “Eh, you’re over reacting. Go take something that’s over the counter.”

And if I did manage to get any kind of treatment or testing, I’d be mocked and bullied by either the doctor or staff.

So the lack of trust has been caused by the greed and selfishness of those in the field. And you have no one else to blame for it.

I had to get a diagnosis in Japan, where I finally got to experience how a doctor should be. They actually ran tests on me. They didn’t mock or bully me. In fact they did many tests to find out what was wrong with me.

And it costs significantly less than in the US because he doctors actually want to help people. Not line their pockets and do nothing.

I’ll never make the mistake of going to see a US doctor ever again. They are just a waste of time and money.

Gloria, I totally agree with you. It’s not just Japan, but many other countries are more efficient. Of course, in Japan it’s very efficient! I have also been there.

My daughter lives in Japan, and she adores the medical system there. As you said, it is reasonably priced. And with the Japanese efficiency, doctors are very thorough.

I don’t know if you know, but the salaries in Japan are pretty equal throughout. Wages can go from $20,000/year (say, for a store clerk) to $70,000 for a doctor. That is not a wide gap! Thus, people can respect each other because wages are kept reasonable and each person has a job that is respected. I think the lack of wage disparity helps people to respect each other, regardless of the field in which they work.

And, as you said, they are very thorough. The doctors are very precise (a very Japanese trait), and they take their work seriously. My daughter is very happy with her care there (she is 30).

Of course, there’s the societal rules of respect toward each other, and that plays into it there.

I’m glad you had a good experience in Japan. Too many people think China and Japan are similar but they are very, very different. (I actually love both countries, but they are very different.)

I can only suspect that it is the drug companies aligning with doctors that increase our costs. And, of course, the Japanese are humble, therefore the arrogance of American doctors is eliminated.

Thank you for showing how other countries can differ. Especially Japan, which is unique in the world.

I ended up finding out from a chiropractor’s lab I have spina bifida occulta of the C1 at the top of the head. It’s a birth defect that was triggered by too many blows to the head. None of the doctors I was referred and sent to could figure it out and the claims adjuster company I had to report to kept accusing me of faking an injury just to get out of going back to work. All this proved to me I will never go back to a doctor no matter what and chiropractors and massage therapists are the future of what I consider healthcare unless something drastically changes. I no longer care if live a short life.

I’m so sorry, Jon. The medical industry is just that: an industry. They are out to make the bucks. I’ve seen way more than I ever wanted to see. I’m glad at least you found someone who could help you. People shouldn’t have to go through all that you went through.

Perhaps most concerning is evidence that low levels of trust can weaken the ability of governments and public health agencies to respond to epidemics. A recent study suggests that Ebola spread more widely and persisted longer than it otherwise would have if there were higher levels of institutional trust.

Doctors are absolutely untrustworthy. They are paid piecemeal by the procedure, and they feather their nests by doing unnecessary things. For example: Some years ago I had a colonoscopy at a teaching hospital. My colon was absolutely pristine from entry to the end.
When they were almost completely done with the procedure, the attending physician proclaimed, “Take a biopsy!”
The medical student said, “What?”
The attending replied, “There, there.”
Next thing you know, the attending had gouged a sample out of completely pristine uniform tissue.
He had decided to increase the cost of the procedure by doing an unnecessary biopsy. . .
Amazing. He didn’t even care that he had students witness his perfidy.
I had refused to take the mind numbing drugs, so I know what happened with complete clarity.

Mr. Wan,
You will learn much more in the first three years after college and other requirements fulfilled for your launch into the medical field [of today]. Please remain open minded through every conscious/subconscious moment you possibly can when in your profession, its practice but most importantly, in your everyday life.

I’m glad to see that you wrote the word “think” and not “believe”. It provides some sense of hope within the notion you are a young man with little experience running a full life concurrent to career, and that without assistance from others. A true challenge it will be in those 3 years.

If you were to refrain from interjecting with a sample of your life and focus first on kakunka’s situation, perhaps that softer landing would NOT have allowed room for some constructive criticism. Genuine feel for your level of morality was left in vulnerable state. Not wise for the forum of this nature. Constituents are on guard for entry level candidates bearing attributes that contribute to its cause, and not rectify it or bring hope to it for our future.

My only hope is that “kakunka” is back to 100% health after the erroneous procedure. This occurring in the GI area of the abdomen raises a number of potential risks that require clearance by professional examination. Left unchecked or self-exam is not advisable.

Good luck in your future Mr. Wang. The field needs you. Thank you & be well.

No one is forcing anyone to not care for patients. That is almost every doctors response to the pressure being put on them.

Furthermore, these excuses are only touching the tip of the problem. The issue is that we now have all the information in the world at the tips of our fingers and people now know that doctors are not physicians anymore. Doctors are nothing more than technicians following a scripted protocol for just about everything. To top it off the protocol is a joke. It is symptom treatment with out ever getting to the actual problem. Medical “science” no longer exists. It is now the goal of pharmaceutical companies(the same ones who own every guideline to come out of the cdc via bought “doctors” on the board) to get as many people on pills for as long as possible. If you think otherwise you’re an idiot.

The cherry on all of this is the ego and superiority complex of this technicians who think they understand any of this.

Why do you think we have 1000 different conditions with no known cause and no known cure?!?! They’re made up and they are clusters of symptoms being called a disease or a condition instead of people figuring out the root cause of all of it. Take a look at the findings of several scientists and doctors with studies proving Lyme disease is the cause of many autoimmune disorders that we can’t explain. Yet, the CDC says it doesn’t exist. Why? You can also find that the same board of doctors who writes the guidelines for Lyme disease and treatment also had 2/3 of its members holding patents for those same treatments and tests….

Did you read that?!

The CDC is lying and covering up a major health concern that is highly communicable and causing things like dementia/Alzheimer’s, als, ms, adhd, autism and more, just so a few old rich men can make millions of dollars.

This is why doctors aren’t trusted. You’re intelligent idiots who are following a script written by crooks instead of actually practicing medicine. And instead of doing something different, you want to write excuses about how someone is forcing you to do this.

the problem is totally that doctors are gaming the system they are running up bills with the insurance company if you get an infectious disease or anything that is serious they want to run you through their circle of friends until your insurance company has paid out every last dollar for the year and then they don’t want to diagnose you because they don’t want to be sued for their negligence that they have been committing draining the insurance companies dry that’s why the insurance companies are fighting back. It becomes a game between the doctor & you! the doctor is saying what is your life worth? Will you keep coming back all year long and letting me run you through my circle of friends to drain your insurance company and then you’re still not going to get a damn thing from us! now go away we’ve got your money!

After many years of reading about and participating in the U.S. medical industry, I would argue that the public has lost trust in THAT, not specifically doctors. Unfortunately doctors are just the public face of a system that has as it’s number one priority making money – not creating and sustaining true health. From what I understand, the “research” that we hear so much about is generally funded in large part by chemical and pharmaceutical companies. That funding not only dictates how much money universities receive but influences the eventual findings about how safe or effective we are told the drug under study is. Look for example at a handful of studies for commonly used medications (i.e., beta blockers), scroll down to the bottom for the conflict of interest statement, and you will see a list of contributors from the prescription drug industry. These same universities are training the conventional medical doctor that you take your family to see. That training involves very little classroom time centered around nutrition. One doctor I spoke with told me that she received ONE class in nutrition in her entire time in medical school. The class she did take espoused nutrition information influenced by the very same faulty research I mentioned earlier as well as plenty of questionable recommendations from governmental bodies like the FDA and USDA – both influenced by the agricultural industry and lobbyists. Add to that doctors getting kickbacks and incentives from pharmaceutical reps and device manufacturers, and it is a wonder we are in as good health as we are. I know several doctors, and they are genuinely good people who want to help – and I’d like to think that is the majority – I suspect that many of them are being lied to as much as we are. As a patient, you have to do your own research, ask your doctor questions and don’t assume that they are smarter than you. Read books, scour blogs, and talk to other people that are in your same situation. Find a doctor that has either had training in functional or integrative medicine, and even then don’t take anything they say at face value. It is only when enough people understand how badly we are being scammed and how sick we are being made in the name of profit that things will change.

I can’t speak for anyone else but these are the reasons I lost trust in doctors.

1) your first solution to everything is to drug people. Rather then figure out what’s causing the pain and figuring out house to fix it. You’d rather take the short cut and mask the pain with an opioid. Then you wonder why America has such a drug problem.

2) you overprescribe and glorify non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs. Medicines like Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and naproxen are great if used once in a while to get rid of a headache, they should not be taken long term, or in such high doses as you prescribe. It causes liver damage, and heart complications, stroke, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, respiratory complications.

3) you’re are arrogant. They must teach narcissism 101 at medical school. You all believe that your so smart in reality your supporting staff is smarter and more professional then you’ll ever be. Respect to all the nurse practitioners, medical assistant’s, and patient care aids.

4) It is too easy to offend you by asking you a question. You constantly think that everything we say is questioning your intelligence when really they are just questions to sate our curiosity, or worries.

5) you accuse people entirely too much of being drug seekers. You demand that you patients trust you, but you treat them with nothing but suspicion. There are other reasons why a patent comes you your office complaining about pain, or seeming loopy. Your job is to figure out what’s causing the pain, not assume they are all junkies. Even if the evidence points to drug use it might not always be what’s going on. For example. My PCP noticed that my liver enzymes were high. He assumed I was on drugs. Turned out I had a fat liver caused by my diet.

6) you are too expensive for people who have crappy insurance, or no insurance at all. Complain about trying to keep your head above water but I’ve seen the houses you live in and the cars you drive. You are far from the days when doctors were payed unfair wages. The people you are gouging for money only make a fraction of what you make. You try to justify it by saying that insurance should pay for it but that’s why everyone’s insurance premiums are so damn high.

7) we also don’t trust doctors because you are rude. We don’t mind so much that you don’t make eye contact when your talking to us although that is rude. You show up after all the work is done by your supporting staff, and spend a maximum of fifteen minutes with your patient. You alway talk to us in the most condescending tone, yet somehow don’t fully explain what’s going on in our bodies.

8) you are so busy trying to push people out the door to bring more in. You are 100% profit driven, and when you honestly don’t care we know. You might not think it shows because we don’t say anything, but we notice.

The media doesn’t demonize you. You do that to yourselves by causing harm to people when you get careless. It’s not the patients fault doctors have a bad rep. It’s not that they don’t understand that you’re watching the monitors. It’s because we know that you really could care less either way. We can sense the emotionless lack of empathy you possess. We know when you’re just going through the motions, and not putting yourself in your patients shoes. Medical practitioners have lost their sole.

I’m not saying all doctors are like this. I’m saying that it’s rare to find a doctor who isn’t. When you pursue a career because of its money and popularity, but have no real passion for it then that’s when you become miserable, and just go threw the motions of what med school thought you. You become one of these doctors.

While I think some of your comments are over the top, there is considerable truth in what you say. There is a tremendous amount of bs and pretending in the world medicine (pretending to care, pretending to be doing your best, pretending to know what your talking about when you don’t…) and a lot of broken promises. I’ve seen enough to be able to point to the number one root cause of the problem: dishonesty. Money unquestionably plays a far far bigger role in medicine than it used to, or than it should, or than the powers that be want to admit (because it makes them look bad and greedy which they are), and the dishonesty comes in when the system claims that they have the best interest of patients in mind when in fact it does not. Think it through and you will see that is the reality. I can assure you that if greed did not taint the process, then the system would be set up entirely differently. Unfortunately, I do not know how to have a system that works at all without money being the bottom line motivator in our current society. Society has to change, and a completely different set of values needs to be instilled in the worlds (particularly the United States) inhabitants to make it better. I don’t know how to do that. It takes a kind of moral courage that simple does not exist anymore.

Holly, wow, your points 3, 4, and 7 are spot on to me, at least with respect to surgeons. Although for point 7, if you’re talking about a surgeon, you’ll be lucky to receive 5 minutes of their time. Definitely arrogant, unwilling to listen, not wanting to understand where the patient is at mentally, not wanting to assist with patient comprehension. They know what they know, and no other opinions could crack their shell of belief, they assume too much, as if their education was complete. They consider themselves at the top, even as the medical sciences and other health related realities of understanding advance and continue on without them, passing them by, all the while any genuine concern for their patients continue to diminish.

Doctors have pretty much destroyed my faith in humanity. I am 36, have multiple physical disabilities, arthritis, IBS, and nerve issues. I am not on any kind of medication. I am told to suffer. I am told “your MRI shows everything is normal.” I then go pick up a copy of my MRI report and it shows advanced arthritis. I go to a different doctor, I’m told to suffer. It’s just an endless cycle of being told to suffer or referred to other providers that takes my money but never does anything for me other than say, “you”re young for having arthritis!!!” It’s like yeah, that’s why I am here. Then told to just suffer. Struggle working full time, my employer is willing to accommodate and has told me this. They have told me just need doctor to write up what would help. Go back to doctor, “I don’t feel like filling out paperwork, go suffer some more.” After 10 years of this, I am about to call it quits on life. Family members and co-workers mock and make fun of me for how I work. I’m just sick of existing, suffering and never having a life.

I’m getting the same damn response from doctors I’ve been begging to help me. I have 4 herniated discs in low back and 3 in my neck. I was injured serving a tour in Iraq. I was given oxycodone and muscle relaxers and told to go back on patrol. Then, I get hit by an IED, which fractured my spine in 2 different locations, tailbone and L5. Transported to Germany for surgery then Walter Reed for 8 months till I could walk again. I rotate to civilian life and able to resume as police officer. In November 2014 I was shot in line of duty in Ferguson during riots. Doctors tell me I’m fine everything normal….really? I’m in miserable pain earlier today my blood pressure was 181/101. My doctor didn’t even care that my blood pressure was at critical rate. I explained fully to her how much pain I was in. I’m told I don’t have enough reason to have relief in this modern time with the advances in medical procedures and medications that are available. Tell me what to do. I have been ground up and I don’t need pills to losen my bowels or pills to sleep or depression pills. I need pain relief. What the hell do I need to explain to her who is a pain doctor, to help me? I feel she’s racist against white police officers and I would love to prove it. Because, with all the injuries I have documented and she tells me I’m normal and there’s nothing she can see what’s wrong with my spine. My MRI report shows a laundry list of hardware and deformities from trauma. She must have been reading another patients report.

I truly understand although not gone through what you did,
. A doctor did this to me and worked my way back after being on crutches for 3 years. After 25 years I’ve continued walking, riding a bike but now no pain meds what so ever for I was told that I was going on the latest greatest and body doesn’t metabolize it but won’t put me back on what let me live a life. Now I lost my mom who shouldn’t have suffered so bad wasn’t even on hospice and someone was there the week before she died and she was told keep moving. You know how hard it is to keep moving when you hurt and instead she dies. Now I have this to look forward to really. Now they wonder why people are losing their trust in the medical field. I can’t write much more for it hurts but will keep you in my prayers.

I’m really really sorry you’re going through his, my thoughts and prayers are with you. You need to cut out whoever is mocking you ASAP, they don’t deserve to be your family. Furthermore, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it or not, but reddit.com may have a community that has people with your same issues. There should be a search bar, once you have entered the specific community, search up what people have done to cure or to manage their symptoms.

doctor would have the exam with me, and then sit in her office for a half hour to bring up issues that could not be talked about with the exam going on. My latest doc has some man come into the exam room and while she’s doing a pelvic, the guy busy scribing. Am I going to bring up something personal about my sex life with him typing away? Not on your life and so it is literally in-out-and-done. Wham-bam-thank-you-maam. And off she waltz with her aide de camp to inflict her next annual exam on the next body.

Doctors are often times required to meet unrealistic performance quotas set by hospitals and are under tremendous pressure to treat patients in a short amount of time. Trying to fast forward the diagnosis of illnesses and/or injuries without methodically and thoroughly examining the patient can be tragic. Misdiagnosis can also occur when the correct tests are not ordered or results misread. When a doctor prescribes medication to a patient, it should be as a result of a methodical and thorough evaluation of the patient and their complete medical file. Any mistake in this critical process will result in injury or even death.

Before, during, and after medication is prescribed, doctors have a responsibility to review the patient’s medical records to guarantee there is no chance of dangerous drug interactions, incorrect dosages, and/or potential allergic reactions.

Coming from the non-medical support staff side of things (IT systems admin) working in the same facility as doctors and other medical professionals can be stressful, and at times intolerable. Note I said “working in the same facility”, not “working with” as in my experience, if your name is not followed by “PhD” and another abbreviation indicating your specialty doctors DO NOT “work with” you.

To give a viewpoint that may be frequently overlooked in these discussions, I feel that doctors – and to a lesser extent senior non-PhD personnel like nurse practitioners and some non-doctoral specialists – are becoming victims of their own hubris, egos and an institutional sense of superiority. In my line of work (supporting computers) it isn’t at all uncommon to have a doctor call the help desk, and then proceed to run roughshod over the support agent – “I know what the problem is, you need to do this to fix it, and if you don’t do it the way I said or question me in any way I’ll have you fired.” Effectively, its an arrogant viewpoint that “since I went to medical school for seven years there cannot exist a topic which I am not an expert on, and everyone should yield to my clearly superior authority.”

I’ve attempted to assist doctors who wouldn’t even give me the time of day or treat me like a person until I’d established that I wasn’t a blithering idiot not worthy of their time or attention, and this kind of “I’m better than everyone” attitude has forced me out of employment in the healthcare sector – and I’d have to be facing eviction or some other kind of dire, life-changing event to consider pursuing employment with a healthcare organization again.

Its one thing to be treated with utter contempt by those senior to you at your job, I cannot even imagine being treated this way by someone whose time you are paying very high prices for.

My experience in the past decade is that about 90% of the Drs don’t care (whatever the reason is). I’ve had a number of symptoms I’ve been trying to get figured out. Generally just yields the PCP to do a physical and CBC and that’s where it ends.

The last GI I had for my digestive issue pretty much conformed IBS (Mostly bloating and cramps)+Dysphagia+Haital Hernia+Ventral Hernia. And said all he could do is give me Nexium that I would have to take for the rest of my life. And when the prescription ran out and they sent a request to his office, they never sent a new prescription. A year later, another try with a new GI. She decides to take an endoscopy and on discharge the preliminary findings didn’t even mention the hernias. They took biopsies which would take about 2 weeks. It’s been a month and I havn’t heard back. I’ve requested an appointment but already have a good idea of the outcome.

This is an example of my medical experience over the past 10 years. My symptoms get worse year-to-year yet there seems to be no concern whatsoever from the medical professionals. I’m at the point where I have pretty much given up on medical professionals and unfortunately, it’s not like I can prescribe my own tests and eliminate probably causes. Guess it’s too hard to expect someone to do their job.

In my case, I also wonder how much of the lack of care also comes from a bias due to the fact I have Bipolar 2. Lately, I’ve started wondering if treatment would be different if I simply didn’t indicate my diagnosis and medications on my history for new doctors. Yeah, i’m at that point!

Doctors, if you don’t like your job, I understand. Lots of people went down that path because that’s “where the money was” (I am a software engineer, so it was pretty much the same when I graduated) and aren’t cut for it and possibly many that didn’t realize the demand, drain and work conditions. But also, if you aren’t liking your job and are struggling to do the work… Move aside and stop screwing with patient’s lives!

I never had a negative opinion of doctors until I developed Epilepsy 23 years ago. OMG what a nightmare. They tell me not to get stressed but getting treatment is most stressful thing on the planet! I’m finally just using cannabis (in legal state) and been seizure free for 3 years. Just trying to get my meds refilled was a nightmare. They were over $400.00 a month for one drug that had a zillion side effects that were $45.00 in Canada. I then found out Neurologist was getting free educations for his kids and lavish vacations from the pharma company to push this drug on patients when there were so many cheaper, better options. I’m like nope…sorry. I even had a doctor in Utah tell me to pray away my Epilepsy and another one that tapped my knee with a hammer and that was it…what year are we in 1410?

Penelope, same here. I had a form of epilepsy (Rolandic seizures) that I found out later that you typically outgrow. So all the poking and prodding, all the pills and crap, it’s basically worthless.

Then I found out my ADD… Well it’s misdiagnosed, and one of the causes? Frequent moves creating distraction. We moved alot, so yeah. The medication was giving me stomach pains cuz I didn’t eat much. Yay, all of this crap was while I’m a teenager and already feeling awkward.

And then, I found out that most doctors would NOT prescribe chemotherapy for themselves yet give it to their patients. Leeches all of them. And I have no sympathy on how hard regulations are for them.

Trust, of course, requires trustworthiness. Waning trust in the health system is partly a result of the sometimes well-founded public perception that its key players pursue profits at the expense of patients. (The United States is the only wealthy advanced nation that has not committed to universal health care.) But there are steps medical leaders and public health officials can take to show they deserve to be trusted. People’s trust depends fundamentally on three questions: Do you know what you’re doing? Will you tell me what you’re doing? Are you doing it to help me or help yourself?

Vibrator, universal healthcare is not some great boon, and this is one of these oft quoted “statistics”. The average cost of universal healthcare means an increase of taxes. Either you’re poor, and can’t afford what should be your share, or someone else is paying your share. I find both of thse options unacceptable.

I do not have insurance, nor do I want it.

“Advocates of universal health care believe it should be a right for all citizens. However, since all citizens are not created equal, health wise, universal health care could end up being unfair to health-conscious citizens. Smokers, for example, receive the same treatment under universal health care, even though their conditions are self-induced, as non-smokers. ”

In short, no we don’t have the right to make other people pay for our crappy decisions.

With all due respect, the increase in your taxes will still be far less than the premiums you pay for health insurance. I urge you to seriously reconsider where you stand since it doesn’t seem like you go through the daily struggles and debilitating life altering chronic pain that these folks do. As an American tax payer I absolutely 100% am willing to take a slight increase in taxes to take care of our most vulnerable and needy. You don’t want health insurance because it seems like you don’t need it. Nobody who has GP got it because of their own “crappy decisions”

The United States spends more tax money on healthcare than countries that do have universal healthcare. The healthcare system is crazy distorted, with people paying hundreds of dollars for a couple of eye drops, or advice to go home and rest.

As for the rest of what you’re saying. I don’t know how to explain to you that it can be good to care about other people.

Let’s talk about smokers. First, there is less of them than overweight and obese people but we’re not allowed to blame them for their health issues, it’s socially unacceptable at this point. Second, many smokers in their 40’s + were advertised to by Big Tobacco Companies from very early ages in their lives. Third, our government allowed stores in the 80’s and before to sell cigarettes to underage people. Fourth, government run high schools allowed smoking and had smoking lounges. So now you want to complain that they were lied to, encouraged to smoke, became addicted and now have health problems as a result. SAVE IT!

Quacks, Inc. So sick of idiotic people posing as medical doctors. I have decided to just forego any more medical care. All they do is push pills and useless medical testing. At age 79, I do not want blood tests or useless pharma. I am dropping out. The state where I live qualified me for Medicaid in addition to Medicare. I am better off without any of it because the worst in the field accept Medicaid. So when renewal comes up again for Medicaid, I am dropping out.

I’ve personally experienced that quacks are far more abundant in the billion dollar industry of “natural/alternative health”. Make no mistake about it that it’s an “industry” out to make a profit. People are duped all of the time into giving these types their hard earned money, especially people who suffer from cancer. An acupuncturist claimed that he “cured” an allergy doctor’s allergies apparently boasting of his expertise as an attempt to convince me to see him. I wish I had him on tape. I later shared the incident to my allergist/doctor and she told me that she could get sued making a claim like that.

I have some great doctors now who I appreciate. That’s not to say that I haven’t had poor experiences in the medical field. People/patients can always seek a second opinion, which sadly some people don’t for whatever reason. Your health is your own personal responsibility. If you’ve had poor experiences it’s understandable that you could feel frustration. I’d move on and try to find another doctor to partner with concerning your health and well being.

Yet even if they know it doesn’t work they keep pushing it. That’s like a doctor telling you that the meds to treat a condition aren’t working, but when you ask to go home, they tell you “We’re gonna need you to keep taking it.”

So you don’t like natural medicine. Fine. Know that even doing NOTHING has a better cure rate than treating it with chemo/radiation, which poisons the body.

Absolutely not. They need to be paid more (and government and insurance Companies need to take less). They have one of the worst, and most taxing, workloads of any profession. They need to be paid more to convince more people to take the profession. If more people can join the medical field, then they can have better work hours. If they have better work hours, then they can focus more intensively on individual patients. If they can focus more intensively on individual patients, then they can actually focus on improving your health, instead of acting like a living WebMD, that can prescribe drugs just to treat whatever symptoms you came in with.

Well as you can see there are several years worth of comments here. Count me as one of the thousands who really do not have anxiety . Dr’s need to be barred from even saying that word . We are all tired of it and no one is buying it .
I am one of the many who has been badly injured by a benzodiazapine. At 56 I don’t really see any hope of a normal life anymore after weaning myself off of that poison you said was so safe .. Shocking how many medical professional prescribe something they apparently know nothing about . Given to me because, again , you also didn’t believe I had a stomach ache that wasn’t just anxiety until my gall bladder burst and I had very painful complications after – which was – again – anxiety .
Is there ANYTHING you people believe ??
I also don’t care what or who you have seen , unless I have been bugging you for drugs that are opiates don’t raise your voice to me again about pain meds. I didn’t ask for any and I do not want any , you drugged me enough . IF treating people in pain with opiates has affected you that badly maybe it is you that needs counseling .
This year I have been able to find no one in the MD category to eve help shepherd me through catastrophic benzo withdrawal that will likely last several years with permanent nervous system damage . I have been made fun of , yelled at , assaulted with a urinary catheter while being told that hospitals are for sick people not people like me . I had urinary retention in Benzo W/D and you want to deny that , drug test me , then flip me upside down and backwards on a tilt table to shove one in 2 times too big and claim that yet again I am only there to get high ??? WTF ??? There is a special place in hell for people like this .
I see a gentle naturopath now who, surprise, knows more about the drug you damaged me with than you ever will be bothered to learn about . I am slowly getting well under her care and it requires no drugs but does involve medical support and an appt more than once every 8 months and 30 min or more of her time to monitor all the damage you did through errant prescribing and subsequent lack of attention . Dr’s should be fully made accountable for what they do just like the rest of us.

MD’s and alot of NP’s and even RN’s no longer listen to us and/or they spend the entire visit arguing with us about our symptoms.

I think the lack of widespread attention for doctors and other health professionals (aside from maybe psychotherapists) to care for their emotional well-being contributes, and professionals just get burnt out or compassion fatigue. I think it would be so hard to be a doctor and see so many people suffering. I’ve seen a number of health care professionals who were responsive and empathetic and whose recommendations I trust, but I’ve also seen a few who were rough and impatient or even rude, and I think if I didn’t have the good experiences to balance it out I could’ve ended up with a bad impression myself.

I think that Dr. Girgis missed the mark on why many of us are angry with the medical profession. Sure some people are upset because of the doctor-patient relationship, but far more of us are angry because of the front end process in most clinics and doctor’s offices. It is the clerical people and other non-doctors who convince the patients that the practice doesn’t give a damn about them. The entire medical community needs customer service classes and FYI, the patient is the customer, not the insurance company.

Unfortunately, this is untrue. He who has the gold makes the rules. The patient gives their gold to a middle-man, who then dictates the terms of the transaction, that both you and your doctor have to follow. The middle-man simply makes your doctor the “bearer of bad news”.

As medicine has become almost exclusively insurance-based (and insurance companies are businesses, not health-care entities), it has been commoditized like all other business ventures.

The only thing your insurance company cares about is paying the least amount possible for your care, before you drop them and go elsewhere.

If my mechanic made all of his revenue off car-insurance only (oil changes, flat tires, everything), over time, it would become a bare-bones front-end for the delivery of a product called “car-care” (which your car insurance would buy wholesale, from the lowest bidder) and any “customer service” you would receive would be as bland and impersonal as that moniker suggests.

To me, it’s actually pretty impressive that healthcare still TRIES to deliver on customer service, even as the resources to provide it continue to diminish yearly.

As a patient with a complex chronic illness, I have found seeking medical care for my conditions to be very challenging. I find that most medical providers offer assembly-line care and just do not have the time, expertise, or interest to get to the bottom of my issues. I think pcpMD (May 9, 2019) hit the nail when it is discussed how doctors are largely influenced by the insurance industry and the mandates imposed on them. But, having been to over 50 doctors in my lifetime, my experience is that only a handful of doctors I have been to actually do care and are acting on behalf of my best interests. I have two elite specialist physicians who both suffer from chronic illnesses themselves so they really do care and a actually “get” the experiential aspect of my suffering, and have connections and expertise to allow me to access the medical care I need. This, as you might guess, requires significant travel, out of pocket expenses, and doing my own research, but ultimately I have been able to acquire the level of care I need because of these physicians plus my own strong self-advocacy. I have also tried expensive alternative medicine remedies, and while there can definitely be some benefit to getting this perspective, I would caution any reader from spending too much on such care or putting all your trust in alternative medicine – when the best solution might be a combination of alternative and conventional medicine. What I am saying to those who are about to give up on the conventional medical field is to keep searching – you might have to travel or spend to get to the right professional, just as you would with an alternative medicine provider, but if you do your homework and diligently seek answers, there are doctors out there who care and can help. Even if such highly qualified, very compassionate doctors are few and far between, I am proof that they exist. To doctors:. I would suggest you need to listen to your patients, don’t be quick to minimize or dismiss concerns, acknowledge when you might not know, and try to help your patient get the answers and help they need. You will earn more respect from your patients that way, too, and may be able to act as a team with your patients.

The Golden Rule is treat others way you wanna be treated. Because when you get sick, this is what will happen to you. You’ll get a nice cold receptionist who will tell you “fill out this form” while you’re struggling to breathe.

Your duty is not to the money. It is to people who face you personally.

As a patient with a complex chronic illness, I have found seeking medical care for my conditions to be very challenging. I find that most medical providers offer assembly-line care and just do not have the time, expertise, or interest to get to the bottom of my issues. I think pcpMD (May 9, 2019) hit the nail when it is discussed how doctors are largely influenced by the insurance industry and the mandates imposed on them. But, having been to over 50 doctors in my lifetime, my experience is that only a handful of doctors I have been to actually do care and are acting on behalf of my best interests. I have two elite specialist physicians who both suffer from chronic illnesses themselves so they really do care and a actually “get” the experiential aspect of my suffering, and have connections and expertise to allow me to access the medical care I need. This, as you might guess, requires significant travel, out of pocket expenses, and doing my own research, but ultimately I have been able to acquire the level of care I need because of these physicians plus my own strong self-advocacy. I have also tried expensive alternative medicine remedies, and while there can definitely be some benefit to getting this perspective, I would caution any reader from spending too much on such care or putting all your trust in alternative medicine – when the best solution might be a combination of alternative and conventional medicine. What I am saying to those who are about to give up on the conventional medical field is to keep searching – you might have to travel or spend to get to the right professional, just as you would with an alternative medicine provider, but if you do your homework and diligently seek answers, there are doctors out there who care and can help. Even if such highly qualified, very compassionate doctors are few and far between, I am proof that they exist. To doctors:. I would suggest you need to listen to your patients, don’t be quick to minimize or dismiss concerns, acknowledge when you might not know, and try to help your patient get the answers and help they need. You will earn more respect from your patients that way, too, and may be able to act as a team with your patients.

Tick you don’t know what you are talking about. I am not a big fan of doctors but here in California, the average non-government doctor make no more than the average CTA school teacher. How many doctors do you know that have a pension. The value of a CTA teacher’s benefits practically double their base pay.

I’ve had problems with my skin for about 10 years now. Initially, been prescribed with antibiotics. After I was done with them, the condition improved for some time, then it became worse. Solution from the doctor? More antibiotics. So I took them again… I’ve changed several doctors since then. Not a single one cared: no special tests, no monitoring, no alternative treatments (I know that they exist, well studied, and could be effective)… Antibiotics ruined my health. These doctors did.

I’m 61 years old and my long time physician retired about 6 years ago. A new group absorbed his patient load. My new doctor was much younger and his care for me was exceptional. But he found family practice dull and moved into the more exciting ER and pro-sports medicine.
So last year I began a search for new Primary Care physician.
I live in a major metropolitan area but I found it extremely difficult to find a doctor that was accepting new patients. Once I found a doctor I immediately made an appointment to establish a relationship. One thing that struck me was that they seemed overly interested in my mental health. The nurse asked me questions from several angles to access my state of mind. And when the doctor finally came in he began the same routine. I got the impression they were looking for reasons to prescribe depression medication.
Days later, with a group of friends, I described what happened and 2 others in the group said their new doctors did the same thing.
I’ve never suffered from major, or even minor, depression so I have no history of it.
I think these new docs are looking to make extra money by pushing pills. Which I find disgusting.
My only health issue is minor hypertension, which generic medication keeps well regulated.
Geez I miss my old doctor.

There is a medicare program called MIPS that makes you document things that are supposed to improve patient care. Unfortunately there are only so many topics to choose from. I have been forced to use is screen everyone in my office for depression with a depression scale that isn’t that good in my opinion. I don’t want to do this but I have to if I want to see patients with medicare. I don’t think they are pushing pills they are just trying to meet these silly medicare requirements. Try to ignore all the weird questions if you can.

So why don’t you get together and protest about this, if it is in fact lowering the care you doctors provide? You are the frontliners of seeing the effectiveness of drugs and procedures on the public – so if it is not effective you all must speak up. Feedback.
WHERE is the feedback from you to your hierarchies?? Is it not supposedly the public’s good you’re supposed to be after?

And if you ask me, it’s not so “silly”. The government does not do things for nothing. They think this out very thoroughly, for their benefit – the legislators that is, writing all of these bills$$. You think they are not in cahoots with Pharma? Why are Pharma executives Directors of FDA, CDC, and other govt agencies and visa versa?? ….

But it all goes back to the same… as much as it is the public’s responsibility to protest unfairness and injustice for citizen’s issues… it is even more your responsibility to seek fairness and justice for the good of the people, because you take an oath to serve the medical needs of the people, and it is based on your study and recommendations that WE – The People – put our lives into your hands – because you tell us to trust your science and advice. As a matter of fact it’s the law that we do……….….

This record keeping is new – so what happened to all the other decades people were not happy with your care?? I am 60 years old and worked with doctors as a bilingual medical interpreter 45 years ago, very early, spending much time listening to medical histories and physical complaints – and complaints about physician’s care.
Nothing has changed.

And I do not see better feeling people today – I read about longer lifespan, but all I see are more diseases and STILL less feeling well with the most common diseases on drugs – drugs that keep changing… and changing… and changing… as usual, to find one that fits – but none fit. People continue to feel unwell… and then unwell for secondary diseases caused by all the drugs! What exists now is an epidemic of dangerous drugs! ……And then you lie to their faces about your system….making them feel confused and unheard, and as if they do not know what they are talking about. You remove our own credibility to know our bodies, to know our symptoms, to know that something is indeed wrong. You make us feel wrong because you march to the beating drum. You delay our testing…. you delay our diagnoses… you delay our treatments – without a conscience! That is horrible! It’s been 45 yearssssssss and I’ve seen nothing change. So this is NOT new. What IS new is that we have access to science on the internet (and I’m talking from medical doctors themselves, scientists’ sites, pharmaceuticals’, FDA’s, scientific journalists’, corporations’ medical product developments….. and scientific journals – yes we read them. So many of us know what is happening in the medical field.) How many times have I not diagnosed me and my 2 daughters and family correctly? … And then fought to convince our doctors for the correct testing?? 45 years worth!

When are you, the stewards of human health, with not only the science IN YOUR HANDS but the RESULTS and WITNESSING of that science in patients’ real world experience, going to stand up for your patients to the monopolization and rationing of treatment, and to the dictatorship of patient care?

You have power in your hands to do something. You are part of the legal designing and the execution of drugs and of patient care. You are thousands. You are the voice of the patients. You have the resulting patient record evidence in your possession with which to debate your position in defense of your patients and you have your patients to have your back. If you won’t – who will?? This requires a mass movement.

What legacy will be left behind if nothing is done while it can be done? What you will leave behind, as is, will be a band of Yes-Sirs, “Stepford Physicians,” marching in somnambulism to the dreaded tune of rote orders – as I see many of you doing now, but worse. Where is your independence from cookie-cutter scientists?

Let me tell you….. there is a whole underground community out here more satisfied with the results of natural medicine. They -we – are born out of your profession’s abandonment, because life continues to seek living. Resulting from your exhausted, empty bag of drugs. And the mind is an intelligent mind capable of thinking for itself. And the only reason natural medicine is not more hugely commonly practiced and known -as it was- is because it is not covered by insurance and it is illegalized by your system, the same as when people would not use conventional if they could not afford medical ins. And this is the reason, some do not know what they are doing as they try to use natural like pills – which is not the knowledgeable way. And there IS a way. And still, many proceed on their own and come out winning too, because we share. And I am not saying there is not a place for drugs, as I’ve said they are great at saving lives – but not at healing. I’ve healed many things that doctors or drugs could not heal , and so have thousands of others. I think your profession should really put two ears to it. But all they do is discredit it and silence their patients. Of course… pharma has huge profits and fat stocks. And that is what wins over patient health…. when you chose patented synthetic drugs and with the power of law decreed them as the only source of medicine, in early 20th century. And gag-order what was already existing and working in Natural medicine.

I guess I gave my answer to the article. The article reflects how doctors have NO idea how fed up people are with the system, and what’s really going on out here IN the community…. the real world.

Doctors have lost public trust because they have become businessmen, living in pockets of different pharma companies, prescribing unnecessary pills left right center and worrying about their rich boy mansions, they care two hoots about patients. My dad had simple tendonitis and his doctor, a very famous one at that, prescribed an arthroscopy for that! Seriously?! My mother had a meniscus tear in right leg 2 years ago and another doctor, a fairly well known orthopedic surgeon in our city, asked her to undergo total knee replacement, that too on both legs!!!

Another time, about 4 years ago, my dad had bleeding gum issues and 2 different dentists he saw asked him to undergo a root canal! (He used basic salt water gargling technique to soothe the gums and has all his teeth intact today, no root canal needed)

My Dear Lord! I have dozens of such instances popping up in my family as well as my friends keep filling me in with all of their own horror stories with respect to different ‘doctors’ who keep prescribing unnecessary tests and surgeries to fill in their own pockets.

Where is the basic kindness, empathy that is expected from a doctor towards a patient? Where is the simple act of putting patients first and trying to understand their problems? Where is honest communication about causes and possible solution for a disease/condition? Rude, arrogant and blood sucking businessmen, that is what medical profession is filled with, and then they complain about how they don’t get no trust?!!!

I agree with you. These so called Doctors we have to contend with are simply Mischevious elves playing games with peoples lives. Even the old ones are so full of crap that there eyes are brown. What will happen in the field of medicine is anyones guess . But, the best way to get well is common sense and staying away from these vultures. These absolute jerks only want one thing, MONEY to finance their fabulous life styles. These dirtbags need to be jailed for their outright murders of their patients, if you want to call them patients. I prefer to use the word, VICTIM. I probably will nort be able to post this item due to the fact that so much crap has to be politically correct, etc, etc, etc. But i am going to hit that submit button and see what happens.

I hope you see my comment! It sounds like you had a dislocation and/or partial one. It could be of a joint, several ones, or even of some tendons in your foot!
I have a connective tissue disorder and joints and tendons randomly sublux in my sleep because muscles relax then, along with the tossing and turning, so I know it can happen. It’s very painful, too.
I’ve used KT tape on my feet sometimes until it heals…really hope this comment helps you a little bit.

They don’t do anything, Everytime I go in they just give me a super broad diagnosis and give me the most basic of healthcare. Wasting time doing tests they don’t need to instead of actually doing the important ones. And most the time it’s the nurses and everyone else doing things. Doctors are nothing more than overpaid nurses.
We spend billions on healthcare yet our healthcare system is horrible.

And the entire opiate epidemic is 100% doctors fault. Just like how they were over prescribing ADHD meds to kids who are bored in school instead of pushing them forward so they can actually learn instead of sit around doing nothing.

This is the entire problem. I’ve diagnosed myself correctly more times than a doctor ever has. I’ve wasted months hearing “gee I have no clue what this could be” and ended up curing myself, literally. They go for the most basic diagnosis, give you some medicine to suppress symptoms for a few weeks, but never actually get to the root of any problem.

And then they have the nerve to insist that we stay off the internet looking up our symptoms. The truth is, we’re all helping each other more on these internet boards where we discuss our symptoms that dr’s cant figure out, than dr’s are able to actually help us.

I am happy to see this unique blog come up through Doctor’s Voice. The fact is that one bad experience from a reputed doctor is enough to ruin the faith of a patient in the medical stream for life. You have shared some common points that may lead to distrust in the minds of patients.

FIRST OF ALL I DONT CARE IF I GET BLACKLISTED! I hate doctors! I’ve web on prednisone since 2000 my last Scots assistant was a fatty hating bully who blamed all my problems asthma, epilepsy, bronchitis on fat, I tried to tell her I dont spend my days stuffing my face with pizza, but she called me a lier & I had a big fight with her in febuary2017 I walked out on her that day for next 2 months I was so depressed was afraid o eat, later that fall I had an epileptic incident & injured my knee, I chose to forgo prescription pain killers didn’t want drug addict on my record the pain & stiffness lasted untill june. Durring this time I was having flashbacks & nightmares of his assistant selling at me saying YOU FELL HURT YOUR KNEE BECAUSE YOUR FAT & STUPID! I snapped & left him nasty messages because of the flashbacks & nightmares not to mention I family members accusing me of faking my knee injury I cut myself durring those months but I’m over that now & I’m going to a therapist but I will never trust Doctors again & I don’t feel welcome o go to any ER.

You know it sounds like a doctor’s profession has a lot of political interference, like teachers, like drivers, like police officers, construction workers, and the list goes on. Politicians aren’t doing their job and working with the people who are most affected and/or controlled by laws. The system needs to change, the laws, the private health insurance companies, etc.

I feel the same way as you describe patients feeling about their doctors. I never go anymore and don’t want to bother even having medical/health insurance. I’m lucky I’m pretty healthy. However, I’ve had a nagging, non-life-threatening problem and have gone to several urologists and feel like each one was trying to rush me through the door. I’m planning to go abroad for medical checkups, etc while on vacation because I feel the quality of medical care is better than the United States. Now I understand what forces might be responsible for this and thanks for the article. I’m always curious to know the other side to a story.

My ex-GI doc (I call him Dr. Phantom Kaching since I wouldn’t have recognized him if he was in my living room dancing with my sister) wanted me to come in every 3 years for a colonoscopy and every year for an upper endoscopy. I asked if they could do both on the same visit and was told “He doesn’t do that.” So I got treated for H-pylori and placed on PPI’s, and yet my pain persisted so I gave up. Four years later I’m in the ER and it turns out it that it was my gallbladder all along.

I especially love going to the PCP every year to get refills for my gout and beta blocker. It reminds me of nothing quite as much a trip to Jiffy Lube getting upsold for a brake fluid change and engine flush. Mammogram? Colonoscopy? Hep-C test? Shingles vaccine?

And she doesn’t take “no thank you” for an answer, either. I finally agreed to a mammogram just so I could end the visit and then cancelled it the next day.

And don’t even get me started on the Medicare Wellness Visit. An hour wasted reinventing the wheel going over my history and watching her type in the computer and a bunch of questions to prove I’m not senile yet.

My new definition of irony: Don’t you want to sign this DNR and hang it on your fridge so the EMT’s can let you expire peacefully on the kitchen floor but don’t you dare try to skip your mammogram. Yep, that makes perfect sense.

I had serve stomach issues for year, it comes & goes. Sometimes I am sick for a day, sometimes a week or a whole month. Stomach cramps after eating, diarrhea, back back, skin itching, flushing, nausea. Finally went my family doctor gave me medication for itching & stomach cramps & refered me do a gi doctor. Waited 2 months to get in, I have had multiple blood work test, stool sample, CT, x-rays, upper endoscopy, colonoscopy. Every test normal normal. I was on two medications when I started seeing these doctors. Now I am on 6 different medications (not including the two I was on) & two creams for my itching. How does a doctor give you all these medications when they don’t what you have, they just mask the symptoms is all. The dermatologist gave me a cream that causes burning & itching, why the hell would she do that when I all ready itch. Guess what not buy this cream which is 68.00 to see if it help & get a allergic reaction. I do not trust any doctors anymore. I feel like cattle get them in & get them out. Come back in a few months. The process of making an appointment is just as bad, I have to wait weeks if not months to see a doctor, then pay co-pay, wait to see the doctor, tell them problem, give you blood, give meds. Your in & out in 15 min. Then for test results, then you get referred to another doctor specialist, wait another month to get in & the process continues. I for one have had enough of them, just today I tried to make a appointment with my gi doctor (he wants me to come in & talk about my next step for tests) so go his office & have to wait 2months just to talk, so then I got mad & e-mailed them that I was not happy with this. They called me I have an appointment in two weeks now. All this is putting me over the edge, doctors says I am stressed,,, duh because I am waiting waiting. It’s been a year of being sick with no answers

Thank you for pointing out that diseases are becoming more complex and doctors can deal with them. My family just moved to a new area and I’m wanting to find the best family doctor in my area. I’ll have to do some research and find the best primary care physician in my area.

I’d agree with all the comments above. And I also agree a lot of the tripe the author said was pretty ludicrous considering the state of the things. Medicine in America has become an enormous money-vacuuming colossus, and the bureaucratic corporatist nature of it is prett awful. But I think there’s more to it. My father, grandfather and uncle are all doctors. They’re all arrogant pricks who tend to walk all over the people in their lives. I think there are a number of reasons for this. Doctors are perfectly placed in out society to receive all the laurels of the achievements of modern science. Mind you, doctors by and large had nothing to do with these achievements; it was scientists. But science, especially as it pertains to medicine and biology and even our mental health (“mental health” did not even exist colloquially before), has become for many people our new religion, our modern belief system. It’s whwre we send our kids when they are bad and where we look for happiness and the only place in society where answers seem somewhat fixed, objective and secure (though often, especially in psychiatry, they are not). So doctors have become our new priests. Except they have no moral or ethical code, except maybe a corporate behavior code. They didn’t really deserve this honor, but we have by default given it to them. And it has completely gone to their heads. If you want to test a doctors humility level, try proving him or her wrong about something. It’s not hard to do. Many doctors I’ve had have no real idea what the medications they prescribe really do or how they work. But the notion that they are not the fount of all scientific truth will typically send them into an easily identifiable internal temper tantrum. So then when you add to this some of the practical pitfalls, such as the admiration of legions of young hot nurses and assistants (obviously this is more for the male doctors, though maybe the women too), and the general notion that they somehow have power over life and death, it really produces amazingly narcissistic @&$holes who feel entitled to act in whatever ridiculous manner they see fit. Engineers, chemists, college professors, they all go through similar schooling and similar workload stress, but it does not produce these kinds of people. I had the dubious luxury of being admitted once to a drug treatment program in Florida, except this program was unique in that over half of the clients were medical professionals (doctors, nurses, EMTs, etc) who had run afoul of their hospital or their boards by abusing drugs and getting caught. The rest of the patients were just “average” drug addicts and alcoholics, so basically common people of mixed background. The nurses, EMTs, other professionals freely mixed with the rest of the people with no issue. But the doctors all stuck to themselves, avoided conversations with the rest of us, and clearly just did not consider themselves to be on the same level, even socially, as everyone else. It was strange to watch. And these were doctors who had probably operated on people when they were high and wrote scripts to themselves and did all manner of horrible things and yet they still somehow saw themselves as better. And of course, the place was run by the most arrogant ex-pediatrician-turned-crackhead doctor you’ve ever met, along with another doctor who gave hour long lectures about what an amazing man he was (I’m serious, I kept waiting for the point of the lecture, but that’s all it was, I think he was trying to sell his new self help book), along with a slew of ex addict doctors turned “addiction medicine specialists”. I really could not make this up. Anyway, that’s my long answer. I will add as a caveat that psychiatrists tend to be way worse than the rest, and that I’ve met a number of seemingly decent GPs and ER doctors and the like. So maybe it varies.

I fully endorse what you say here about doctors. There is something that invades many MDs (mostly, though also some DOs) psyche that make them not very good human beings. I don’t know when that happens. There definitely is that air that many doctors exude that reeks “I am better than you”. I won’t say it is true of all. I have met some pretty nice and decent doctors, but they are the minority. I wonder about many of them that I know socially where they seem to be okay – I wonder how they behave in their professional lives. One whom I thought was pretty smart proved, based on revealing news stories that surfaced later, to be a Medicare fraudster and liar who had no qualms about exploiting patients and their professional status for ill gotten gains. I guess there are people like that in all kinds of fields, but I would sure like it if the “system” would weed them out of such a vital part of community, of a service that deals with people at their most vulnerable.

The medical industrial complex is riddled with “docs” who did not enter the field for love of humanity” My personal experience has been that people attracted to medicine seem to be borderline mentally ill and use the medical field to act out. I am a scientist with an advanced degree; I’ve known a lot of med students. Deeply troubled people. And judging by their poor judgment once they began practicing medicine, they never made an effort to self reflect and get help. And they like the money. If they were forced to trade salaries with a teacher, they’d collectively lift their voices in a horrified scream…. Oh, and speaking of money, docs need to learn their place: I am the customer. My money pays the doc. My copays and my insurance premiums. Docs are my employees. They work for me. I have made the decision to reject our medical model and it’s medicine men and women. For an industry that says “Do no harm” harming is about all the idiots accomplish. They need to go work at Starbucks.

Just try getting any real solutions after a head injury. I’ve been basically prescribed “waiting for it to heal” after being charged for services over and over now. The month after a head injury is crucial time for treatment, and the worthless doctors wouldn’t even give me any time, let alone fix anything. How many more years do we need to sit here listening to doctors give speeches about research our tax money had paid them for while seeing no real improvement in the engineering and solutions they present?

The idea that these so-called health “care” businesses don’t put profits ahead of patient care is “pie-in-the-sky” nonsense. When you call to make an appointment you are not asked what your problem is or how you are feeling at present, instead you are asked what insurance you have. If you don’t have insurance that they accept then…game over. Uttering the words “self-pay” is met with a very heavy, meaningful, silence on the other end of the phone. If they accept your insurance then you are asked all of your insurance, and personal, information. The very last thing that you are asked is what problem you are having.

Many of these money-grubbing mills want money, up-front, before they even do anything for you. If, after being kept waiting 45 minutes, an hour or 2 hours past your appointment time, you decide to leave they do not refund your money but try to hold on to it and convince you to make another appointment (when you will be kept waiting an inordinate amount of time, AGAIN!) If you decline to make another appointment, you are told that they cannot refund the money, that it has to be handled by “corporate” and will take 4 – 6 weeks. Boy, they can grab your money right quick, but refunding is always a lengthy process.

The “providers” are as many people here have described: arrogant, uncaring, cavalier, dismissive and a lot of other horrible adjectives which they should be aware will make them much more likely to get sued if something goes wrong. They don’t bother to explain things to you. Here in AZ the offices are staffed with assistants who don’t know their a** from their elbows, so you usually can’t get any useful information out of them. I long for the good old days when nurses – not people walking around in scrubs pretending to be nurses – were still employed in these health “care” joints…but I digress.

The “provider” sees you for just what fall under their specialty, if there any other issue…good luck. For instance, if you go to see an orthopedist for knee pain, but happen to be bleeding from the eyeballs, don’t expect that orthopedist to even notice. I saw a gastroenterologist a few weeks ago and my blood pressure was well above what would qualify as “white coat syndrome”….. he didn’t even notice. Just to remind him of the fact the he was a general medicine person, before he chose a specialty, I asked if he happened to notice my blood pressure and what did he think about it. He finally looked where it was written, right on top of sheet he was writing on, and said “Oh! You should get it double checked by your PCP.”

I feel incredibly unsafe dealing with today’s “providers” because they do not seem to listen or care.

I feel that patients are treated like cattle…you are given an appointment time which is NEVER adhere to…you are kept waiting in the waiting room like cattle in a holding pen…. when it’s your turn, you are called in and rushed through like cattle being branded and herded out the other side.

Of course, NO ONE EVERE APOLOGIZES FOR KEEPING YOU WAITING WELL PAST YOUR APPOINTMENT TIME. Wasting your time is of no consequence to them, only their time is important to them. If you dare to be late they can refuse to see you (but they would only do that if they felt it would not keep them from making their financial quota for the day.

I say all of this as a retired RN who knows how things used to be done AND SHOULD STILL BE DONE. Health care should be patient centered, not investor or business-owner oriented.

Doctor/patient bonding is a joke… Doctors are fueled by money and patients are cattle. Maybe I’m just too young to know what good doctors were like in the past. Until recently, I hadn’t needed a doctor for anything other than the yearly physical. Then my S.O got ultra sick. The ER knows him in a 1st name basis sick. He has a family history of rare “hard to find” endocrine tumors. Lo’ and behold, he started to show the same symptoms. We were being shuttled from specialist to specialist. Each “specialist” looks over his previous tests for maybe 4 minutes and then usually tell him it’s not their problem. My personal favorite is when the specialists reorder the same blood tests he’s already had done a hundred times before telling him he needs to get a referral somewhere else. We’ve been to 9 different doctors and can’t find one to give him the time of day. His average appointment breaks down as follows: 10-25 minutes in the lobby waiting after his “allotted time”, but if you’re even 5 minutes late due to weather, it’s cancelled. 15 minutes with a nurse taking height, weight, and asking that stupid depression questionnaire. Yes he’s depressed, no one gives a hoot he’s slowly dying. Then the doctor “listens” while typing on his/her computer for 4-10 minutes. If you “self diagnose”, even to state that you have a family history, most scoff at your “arrogance” and think they know better. Some doctors ask him what pills he wants (he’s on alpha and calcium channel blockers) and get completely baffled when he says he doesn’t want any pills, he just wants to get better. Some doctors say he has anxiety and is making it all up. Cardiology says it’s endocrine, endocrine says it’s cardiology. No doctor will talk directly to the other one. We’ve even sent a referral to a new doctor, and without even seeing him in person, deny it’s his “specialty”. It’s to the point where he gets the good old “come back in 3 months if you still don’t feel good!” Since it isn’t easy to find, they’re content to wait until he dies. One less cow in the herd, but that’s okay, there’s 500 more.

beware of Steroids”. Doctors giving them out for all most any thing it seems. i had a rash and was injected dexamethasone 2 years ago aand recovering at all. it took 10 years off my life. immune adrenal skin steroid phsyichosis a living agony.

I’ve lost all trust in the Modern American Medical/Industrial Complex. I do have some trust in my Primary, but the slew of “specialists” I’ve been exposed to have been arrogant, self-centered, dismissive jerks.

I’ve made the decision, after last week’s interaction with a “specialist” that I will no longer pursue the possibility of a CSF leak post brain tumor resection.

I’m done with all of them. I can live with the constant drainage from my ear and nose, the nausea, the neck pain, etc. I will never again allow some “specialist” to treat me like a lower life-form. Ever.

I tend to be like that also, but recognize medical doctors simply do what they are trained for. They are superb for correcting injury, but I oppose the pharmaceutical industry that succeeds only for profits, not health. I know they cannot operates without majority belief, but I never intend to become normal.
(If I believed medical doctors I would have been dead already four times. I like to received information, but actual treatment is my own responsibility, and any drugs they prescribe I cannot afford to pay for.)

DO’s stands for Doctor of Osteopathy. Doctor of Osteopathy used to be natural doctors who performed a specialized musculoskeletal manipulation technique, along with natural medicine, and from which Chiropractic developed, healing many diseases. It is more than 130 years old. At the turn of the century, when the Rockefellers with others ordered a US survey that resulted in “The Fletcher” report, they began the persecution of Holistic medicine that was the main form of medicine used successfully at that time for hundreds of years. there existed at that time over 100 Homeopathic hospitals and colleges. When the AMA was formed, they convinced Osteopaths to join them to be trained as medical doctors with the promise that their osteopathic manipulation techniques and natural philosophy of healing would remain part of their profession. Well they divided the profession, and DO’s are now medical doctors, and to keep the original portion they have to complete additional training to become DO-OMT. A way of weeding out the OMT part for full MD integration. Nice strategy : ( …. So no 2 DOs have the same DO philosophy nor do they do the OMT part, which was the true Osteopathy. I have been to DOs and none of them do OMT, only DO-OMT’s, and the practice is not any different from MDs. Functional Medicine doctors and Naturopathic Physicians are better, as far as my experience.

I have lost trust in doctors because of going to doctors, no other reason. You quickly realize they don’t get it right most of the time and they don’t listen. Some are really arrogant and straight up rude to you. It’s like taking your car to the mechanic and your complaining about engine noise and lack of power and they just say they can’t find anything wrong, top off your fluids, referral you to a dealership 50 miles away and then charge you $3000. And they act like you don’t have a life outside in the world, they act like if you request time off work to heal your just a bum that doesn’t work. If your in pain your just a pill junkie. If you have anxiety your just trying to score xanax. If you can’t sleep from insomnia or some other illness, you must be on meth or something and are strung out. If you have an infection you dont really need antibiotics your over using them. Im not even exaggerating. But what am I going to do? If you need help there’s no one else to turn to and I can’t prescribe myself medicine.

The doctors practicing traditional systems are locally available and often called ‘barefoot doctors’. There is a revived interest in these systems of treatment and many allopathic doctors combine their treatment with traditional methods like yoga, nature cure and Ayurveda. The whole purpose is to serve mankind and remove the pain and sufferings of patients. In this respect, society is indebted to the profession of doctors.

Never felt sacred to me. More like getting kicked while I was down. Wait 2 hours,sign your life away in forms to see a person who acts like they don’t have 5 minutes for you. After all it’s your health,not theirs, they can safely call you a mulligan and everything about the way they have treated you so far screams I’d rather be out golfing.

But hey, that’ll be $200 for the visit that winds up leaving you self doctoring anyways.

If I’m not in an actual emergency, like there’s a pipe going through my gut, I’m flat out done with them. They want to be whores for this company, that company, and money itself, the least the overeducater undercaring tricks can do is learn how to treat your “johns”. I detest healthcare in America, and Docs themselves are 100% a part of it.

Amen to all the above!!! Doctors think they’re so wonderful if they have the courage to say “I don’t know” now! It’s become a cop out- they never research your issues or do really in-depth questioning or thoughtful time about your symptoms. I call you it top of the head syndrome. If its not at the top of their head they’re just like idk- pay your money and don’t let the door hot you on the way out. Sad to say but doctors are awful and greedy now. They make a lot of money. I have seen the salaries from my work. They just always think they should be multi millionaires because they are
a doctor…. BS…

Amen. I have had doctors inform me I did not need my ovaries or uterus (contradicting research) and recommend I have them totally removed for diagnosis, not even being sure they needed to be removed. I have read and brought my own medical research from the Mayo Clinic and had doctors refuse to read it. I had a doctor unable to answer questions about test sensitivity and specificity. If doctors were honest, they would add “and I don’t care” after “I don’t know.” Forcing sick, scared patients to do all their own research while paying the doctor is sickening. The practice of American physicians is a perversion.

I DO NOT give a dam how many degrees they have… they are arrogant with big heads and lean souls. they do not have connection with patients who cares about degrees or the many initials at the end of their names,? if they do not even look at patients in the eyes sit and listen to them.. i guess they are thinking on who can they pick to try the new drug that just came out…. I come from a family of Doctors i worked in the medical field for 35 years or more… I have never saw what i see today in our secular society.. Yes, there are still good sincere Doctors out there.. Hope i can find one…

More and more i wish not going back to Doctors… the time they spend with patients is less than 10 minutes.. if you ask a question they look at you like,.. how dare you to ask anything am the doctor, some are arrogant. they ignore what the patients says very rare they look at you., ..i though a good Doctor was the kind like my dad was compassionate, LISTENED AND WORK TOGETHER WITH HIS PATIENTS…..Miss my dad….. TODAY IS LIKE A RUN TO GET OUT OF THE ROOM… What can we the public do to change this.. still looking for a Doctor who does cares for every patients and not just the $$ Alternative medicine… PREVENTION IS THE KEY doctors dont know anything about eating and living a healthy life style… why dont they tell that to heir patients,? maybe if we are all healthy they will be out of business…

I am being under-treated for pain. My L5/S1 has a “significant” extrusion. I am being considered for surgery but had to get 2 injections before Medicare will okay. I am not willing to have surgery because I know the resultant pain will not be treated.
I cannot take Gabapentin or Ibupropen and now Acetamenophen in the dosage prescribed to me makes me sick – and it does not do much for nerve pain anyhow. So I am without any pain medication but aspirin, which I take very sparingly, maybe 2 tablets per day to avoid damage to my stomach. I have severe sciatica, scoliosis, and I cannot walk more than 10 feet without crutches. I cannot stand or sit for long – I can’t do normal household tasks or much of anything, really, for 7 months now.
Why should I continue to see doctors who will not do anything to ease the constant pain. I am treated like a criminal, accused of pill seeking I had a flareup that brought my blood pressure to 150/90 from its normal 122/74, from my actual records, and I was given anti-inflammatories, steroid and non – but NOTHING for pain. I rarely visit doctors, take care of my health, they can see from my records that I have had no pain killers in the last 10 years – no history of any drug use at all yet they criminalize me.
With or without treatment it looks like I am going to end up crippled. It is so emotionally devastating to have a doctor look at you while you are shaking with pain and decide you are a criminal. It is traumatic to know that no matter how much I hurt no one will help me because they have decided – with absolutely no evidence except that I want something to make the pain go away – that I only want to get high. I understand that the DEA has taken the control of their practice out of their hands but these doctors actually believe the untruths. The same words “slippery slope”, “natural”, “pain is just information” come out of their mouths in the same phrases. It is scary because they are not thinking. They would be aghast if they witnessed someone pulling out fingernails or burning their patients with irons or other form of torture, yet they allow chronic pain patients, one of which number I am becoming, to suffer the same levels of pain – and with the additional trauma of watching someone observe them in pain, someone who is supposed to help them, and that doctor or nurse is looking at them with contempt for their weakness.
Pain hurts. It isn’t a character flaw. Non remitting pain damages you, physically, intellectually and emotionally. Trust is violated, there can be no doctor/patient relationship when the doctor does not recognize the truth of the patients pain.
Why should I visit my doctor, be criminalized, be lectured, be subject to things the DEA and insurance companies decree despite evidence that some procedures and devices are not only ineffective but dangerous – and still be in excruciating pain with no hope of relief. I do not trust the system. I like my PCP, she is kind and compassionate but she is absolutely powerless to give me the pain relief that I need.
When I get through this, I can promise you that I will not visit my doctor again unless something is broken or I can’t stop the bleeding by myself. Why should I?
Pain hurts. It is unnecessary for me to be in such pain. Yet I am

If the medical profession is stumped as to why the American public has lost faith in doctors, they need look no further than these comments. I also now understand why some people, especially as they get older, just think the medical process is a joke and does more harm than good. First and foremost, I blame insurance companies for tying the hands of doctors and hospitals. I believe they started this evil ball rolling when they decided some decades ago that they were in charge of our medical treatment, not the doctor. I also think big pharma is big business and it is absolutely impossible to keep up with the myriad of wonder drugs out there. Next,, the business side of being a doctor has limited the kind of care we get and the endless documentation required is probably not the kind of care they want to give or why they got into the profession. Lastly, patients have to blame themselves for a lifestyle of debauchery in the way of too much of the wrong foods, a lack of exercise and taking endless amounts of prescriptions instead of trying to fix the cause of the problem, which is probably weight, a lack of body conditioning, smoking, drinking, etc. and yes, I am obese and don’t put my health first. I blame myself. Help me get back to good health instead of giving me another pill.

I certainly feel with my new GP surgery that the main concern is the welfare of the doctors and the surgery staff. This may not be true, but it is my feeling from my experience with them. I feel like a nuisance and will avoid going there if possible. I suppose this is their aim. Is that their criteria for success?

The statement that doctors are limited in prescribing meds made me bust out in laughter. They are pill pushers to the extreme, hence the reason for the opiod epidemic we have right now. I have a family member destroyed mentally and physically by doctors prescribing one drug after another and doing one surgery after another that she didn’t need. Believe me, the hippocratic oath of “first do no harm” has been replaced with “first do no harm to my wallet”. It’s a business, and they are not in it to cure people!

Cop out lazy excuses. Your community of Drs have as much power as the people you are blaming. You could easily fight for patients but you and your community would rather profiteer off of medical industry. It’s not insurance it’s you the Dr who raise price to where we need for insurance in the first place. We don’t care about your stupid College loans and how much it cost you to go to med school nobody’s paying my tuition. Drs used to be called quacks for a reason.

People take note…,,,,America is sick and the health system is broken and out of control. There is no fixing it. It needs to be overthrown. This is not a political issue, nor an economic issue. It is a humanitarian issue. I used to be healthy. Now I’m sick. My illness gets worse, only from inattention & misdiagnosis from a broken system that I’m paying thousand of dollars each year to keep afloat and enrich private industry. Sounds like you? Collectively, we are all affected, directly or not. Ironic that we’re talking about America, and not post Soviet Union. In fact, those mental wards we’d see on TV back in the day, and shudder at the lack of attention and care those people faced…. well, we’re fast approaching the same scenario. Only this time, it’s a bit more subtle and universal. Wow, Old Glory should be proud.

I’m sorry but even the first sentences in this article made me laugh: “In my mind, the doctor-patient relationship is sancrosanct. There is no relationship where the bond of trust should be so strong, outside of matrimony.”

Please.

It’s been over 35 years since I’ve felt anything remotely akin to a doctor-patient relationship. Doctors are cogs in a corporate wheel. They aren’t the doctors I knew as a child in the 60’s, who made house calls and sent you Christmas and birthday cards. The doctors now are arrogant, intolerant, hurried, people.

Their staff can’t manage a “How are you today?” as they walk you back to a room. You see nothing but their back and their asses as they walk in front of you, then order you around like you are in a Russian Gulag – “Step on the scale, go in this room, put your purse there, roll of your sleeve.” I can’t stand it.

Today I spent thousands of dollars on x-rays. I was sent the results in an e-mail with medical terminology and no explanation of the results. I still don’t know what is wrong with me.

Today I consequently made the decision that outside of a couple perscription drugs I take, I am no longer doing physicals, blood work, doctor visits or anything else unless I’m so sick I can’t stand it. I will see a naturopath from now on. It’s because it’s such a depressing industry anymore. It’s like the DMV. (The X-Ray lab actually had us pull DMV like number tabs and called them out just like that).

The advertising about “caring” and “compassion” is a load of crap. Nurses are better than doctors but not only does the US Healthcare system bankrupt Americans and makes them slaves to their jobs for insurance, they offer cold, indifferent care that is not worth the money. It’s corporate America. That’s all.

I used to be like you. Then I looked up the first big word in the summation of my exam. “The fundoscopic exam was non-revealing.” The fundoscopic exam is just the eyepiece the MD wears. As I continued I learned more and more words until some doctors think I am a retired doctor. Not kidding.”

IMO We have too many specialist. As a cancer patient, this has caused me great harm. It would help if they “always” updated one another and worked together. A primary care cant even order oxygen for a patient that is clearly experiencing shortness of breath. The patient has to wait for the referral to be approved. If its approved in a reasonable amount of time, then the wait time for the appt. Im so sick of filling out intake forms that the Doctor clearly has not read. I go to appts. with very important questions that I never get answered. All appts. are 15 minutes and many times less. This is why we try to find answers on the internet that they tell you is not good idea to read. I dont know who to blame anymore. I just know that Im not to blame and the one who is suffering.

If I see a specialist, 90% of the time, Im the one who updates my pcp. The emergency rooms are overwhelmed. The whole system is so completely broken and our politicians continue to increase the burden for votes; while they have the best healthcare. My health was good before the cancer. Rarely went to a Doctor. What a slice of life this has been and I couldnt be more disillusioned, disgusted and down right disappointment

Medical mistakes are far too common because each specialist is treating (or more likely over treating) her own pet organ. No one is considering the whole patient to organize a global, integrated, safe, and effective treatment plan.

The less time doctors talk to patients, the more unneeded, costly, and often harmful are the tests and treatments they order.

How did medicine get so specialist dominated and what forces prevent primary care from assuming its proper central role?

Thank you thank you thank you! Yes! Yes! I entirely agree! I LOVE the messages on this board, I Knew I was the only one who had experienced these things! =*****-/! I’ve been made to feel BEYOND MORTIFIED with how the darn quacks are treating me! ( and everyone it seems).

My only change to what you said here would be that “doctors” are not human anymore, their TRYING to be machines and they’re even flunking out Big Time at that. >X-P!

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not necessarily the doctors’ fault that the doctor-patient relationship has often become so poor but insurance companies. I’ve had a number of doctors tell me off the record that they are constrained by all of the rules they have to follow from practicing medicine they way they envisioned when they decided to become doctors.

And HMOs are the worst offenders. They use every possible excuse for why you can’t pick your own specialists. It doesn’t matter if you have one right next door to your home or a favorite one you’ve been seeing for years – you will go to the one they choose who is an hour away and has no appointments available for the next 6 months. The switch from PPOs to HMOs may have improved profitability for Health Insurance companies but at the expense of their patients.

“Most doctors truly put patients’ care first, before profit.” This is a comforting thought, but I don’t think it’s based on reality. In my experience, the opposite is true. Most doctors care about profit, not patients’ care.

Maybe the public’s trust in doctors is eroding because doctors AREN’T LISTENING TO THEIR PATIENTS! I told my doctor for years I was having pain all through my body, I was so stiff I was falling down, I was so tired all the time I had trouble staying awake? Did he listen? Apparently not, because he never once said maybe I should stop taking a statin and see if that was the problem. When I did research on the Internet, I found out about side effects of statins. I stopped taking the statin and now I feel so much better that my co-workers are asking what I’ve been doing to be so much healthier. The doctor always said he was the one with the medical degree, so why am I the one who had to figure out it was the statin making me sick? If doctors want trust, maybe they should try listening to patients and at least make an attempt to figure out what’s wrong.

I just left my Doctor’s office today with an anxiety attack. I was seeing an excellent Doctor but she is currently on leave and was seeing another Doctor in the same office in the mean time. This was my second time seeing her, the first was just for my regular medication refill. This was another of those visits. I have had Spinal nerve damage causing radiating pain down both hips and legs since 2008, recently my regular Doctor diagnosed me with fibromyalgia after extensive tests, arthritis in both knees, and several other issues like Depression. I’ve been on pain meds since 2008 and due to my profession I had to still remain fit and able to perform fitness tests to continue performing a physically demanding job. On many occasions I attempted going without pain meds as I hate relying on them, however they allowed me normalcy. That is until I worsened, and had to leave that job. Eventually My regular Doctor told me I needed to stop working all together because I was making myself worse. My Meds currently the same dosage and as 2008 due to my own diligence and refusal to take anything stronger only takes the edge off on bad days, on good days allows me some normalcy. That all being said, This new Doctor, and this only being the second time seeing her decides she wants me off any pains meds and all I need is Diet and exercise. I tried explaining things to her, but she knew best. It was like talking to a wall. I left in tears, having a panic attack feeling like if I have nothing to help me how will I even be able to play with my children? What am I going to do? If I seek a second opinion will she flag me as drug seeking? I literally left my Doctor’s office in worse condition than I arrived. Maybe Doctor’s like this could be a reason…

TRY COLD LASER LIGHT THERAPY (low level laser light – the same). Chiropractors usually do it. It relieves pain and mouse studies show it heals connective tissue. People with carpal tunnel do not need surgery. Life saver when I broke my ribs! Some claim it has healed degenerative disks, but you need many sessions to do so.

For all symptoms I would seek a Functional Medicine doctor. (I am not advising or diagnosing, just simply sharing what worked for me.) You might be deficient in minerals and vitamins – they are REALLY important, medical school does not educate medical students in nutrition. I would get my hormones checked too. adrenal weakness can cause pain. Gastrointestinal problems where your microbiome is destroyed because of junk fake foods and too much pasta etc, affecting the integrity of intestinal walls to digest your foods properly, can not only lead to deficiencies, but also the proliferation of bad bacteria or pathogens, and some forms of arthritis, if you read, are due to pathogens . YOU MUST COMPLETELY CHANGE YOUR DIET. look up also probiotics to inform yourself. Keep up with your med, but I would research online and FB for info on Functional medicine doctors who are trained best and use alternate proven means to deal with these issues. Read read read.

Cold laser didn’t work for me and it was a waste of my time and energy and mostly MONEY. I don’t believe the science is there.

It’s considered experimental and investigational for a host of indications because there is inadequate evidence of the effectiveness of cold laser therapy.

Sick
on July 23, 2019 at 2:11 pm

Maybe some functional medicine doctors are better than others, but the ones I have tried are worthless. Few recommendations were based on science of any sort (when I would ask questions to explore their logic their answers became very vague). They want to constantly sell you expensive supplements. I tried all the supplements they recommended (spend thousands of $s on them), bought off on the diet changes they recommended … zero positive impact on my health or complaints. Functional medicine so far to me is more nonsense, but probably less harmful than what typical allopathic medicine has to offer.

So, a long time ago, I was legal guardian for my mother. She was in a nursing home. The home had a doctor who came in every two weeks. I saw this happen. He would look at charts, no more than 30 seconds, and literally walk by patients. He would charge, I think, 100 bucks a patient. In 25 minutes or so, he was able to bill over 2000 dollars. How you do you trust members of a profession who do this? I’m not sure you do. Sure, I’ve had doctors help. But I’ve also seen a lot of greed. I’ve also taught a lot of undergraduates who want to be doctors. I’ve never heard any of them stress helping people as a motivating factor. It’s always about lifestyle. That’s why they want to go to med school. Also, after college, I worked as medical copy editor and worked with physicians. Some of them were interesting. Most of them weren’t. I also saw that journals tended to skew results of research according to who pays for the research.

I don’t know WHY but this site is NOT publishing my responses, suppressing the TRUTH even here >X-P! (This is the Third Response I’ve TRIED to post here >X-P!) But IF this shows up at all then I just want to say, I totally agree, and this is very informative, Thank you very very for posting it.

St. George’s University School of Medicine provides a back door (like open admissions at community colleges and some four year granting colleges in the U.S.) in to medicine for those not good enough to get accepted at American medical schools. They are the rejects that apply to offshore Caribbean medical schools in the hopes of a second chance at becoming an M.D.

I am not a patient. I am a client. My money pays you. As the client, I am on top of the medical industrial complex hierarchy; that means you work for me. You do not possess some special knowledge from the hallowed halls of med school. You are no more intelligent and your IQ is not higher than mine or anyone else’s. We do not trust you because we are onto you. You are not God, I do not blindly respect you (why on earth should I?) and it is your job to respect me. The client – med consultant “relationship” is not sacrosanct. It is business. I don’t want a relationship with you. I’m not that hard up for friends. All I want out of you is a consultation. You never ever get to grope my body until you have made a polite, respectful request first. Do not dare to ever give me “instructions” or make demands. Polite requests. Are you starting to get the picture? You and your ilk need a major attitude overhaul. In your essay, you’re trying to blame external factors on your abominable behavior. Horsepucky. You have been educated in a dominant white male patriarchy, that is class driven. “Im a doctor. Im better than you. Im smarter. I deserve respect. You are owed none. I will put on my white coat to signal to you that I’m better than you.” And yeah, you absolutely care more for money than for clientele. Would you do this job on a teachers salary? Didn’t think so. Do us all a favor and drop dead. You don’t possess the value you think you do.

No, I don’t trust doctors because none of you listen, at all. I actually believe 6 out of 7 doctors I’ve met need to lose their medical license. And judging by the amount of people voicing the same concerns and experiences, I’d say about 80% of the medical community should probably not have a medical license.

I’ve been searching for what’s wrong with me for 3 years and every doctor has brushed half the lab results under the rug. Then they act like I’m crazy and have anxiety or depression or I’m lazy and refer me to a counselor. I’M NOT A HYPOCHONDRIAC! Even a hypochondriac cannot force themselves to lose MASSIVE amounts of weight despite a voracious appetite nor can they cause labs for thyroid, kidney and heart problems fluctuate. I can’t force hair loss, ulcers in my mouth, abdominal pain, or heart palpitations. Most doctors I’ve met and even the majority I’ve heard stories about from close friends are GROSSLY negligent.

Don’t blame regulations on healthcare for doctors’ shortcomings and arrogance. Doctors are the most narcissistic group of people I’ve met.

I would say because we have been burned too many times. It is important to point out that socio-economic background is the single most determining factor to why a person becomes a doctor, it also reveals the lack of trust economic disparity plays between a doctor and a patient. An affluent person views a poor person differently. Lack of wealth means lack of opportunities for formal education. Saying that patients are stupid, when they don’t understand is ignorance by medical professionals. When a patient does their best to be informed by the only means accessible to them, the internet, this person is ridiculed and basically bullied by doctors. This is unacceptable. Doctors, leave your egos at the door and appreciate the considerable effort made by the patient to understand what is ailing them. It feels that any attempt made by a patient to help themselves is met with contempt and scorn by the doctor. What is the motivation for the doctors behaviour? It is a threat to their economic well-being? A threat to their intelligence? Expensive and exclusive training? Perhaps all of the above. When doctors are taught that they must “never assume that their values are the same as that of a patient” builds a wall of exclusivity that places a patient at odds against a doctor. Reality check: patients often have THE SAME, if not better, values than that of a doctor. Patients are not driven by financial factors, nor are they motivated by status, nor prestige; they simply wish to regain an aspect of their health! Humble yourselves, doctors. A part of being objective is to actually be objective. Bias is introduced with every judgemental thought doctors have of their patient. A perfectly objective opionion would be computer software: this would allow more accurate diagnosis, yet doctors are reluctant to introduce and embrace this evolution of medicine because they would be without a job. What job are you serving if it isn’t to help others maintain optimal health? Holding on to status and wealth is not a public service. It becomes obvious why trust has been lost, and for good reason: the patient isn’t the priority.

I’m tired of being lied to about what my insurance provider requires! This past year, I’ve received a call from the doctor’s office about scheduling the “required” annual exam. Well, I don’t like taking time out of my life to go to sit at a doctor’s office for hours even when I’m sick, so this naturally made me question the validity of the process. First of all, there’s a HUGE difference between an annual “wellness” exam and annual physical exam, and the insurance only covers the “wellness” as a so-called preventive measure. Bottom line, neither one is required.

My wife woke up in the middle of the night with what she thought were heart attack symptoms. The only option was to go to a 24-hour mini-ER to make sure she wasn’t about to die.

We walked in and the doctor treated us like were stupid for bothering him in the middle of the night (which I think is supposed to be his job), hooked a dirty and half broken machine up to her for 90 seconds and sent us home. The whole thing was 15-20 minutes.

They tried to bill insurance something like $8000 and got “negotiated” down to $1000. Which means the clinic and doc were price gouging to begin with.

Then after we paid that bill (which literally ruined our entire Christmas) we find out the doctor is sending us his own bill for another $500 after the insurance slapped down his own attempt at price gouging.

After so many of these experiences ive been trained in such a way that if I feel like I’m having a heart attack or stroke I’m highly likely to sit and wait if it clears up rather than seek treatment. If I rip a ligament in my shoulder I’m going to seriously weigh my options between dealing with pain and disability for the rest of my life and dealing with a corrupt medical billing establishment.

And this is not an isolated incident. Every unplanned interaction my family has with the medical establishment is like this.

I had one orthopedic surgeon that promised me that I would pay 1200 for a surgery on my wrist. Low and behold that’s exactly what actually happened. He gained my trust. Dr Jeffery Buddoff. But now my insurance won’t pay him at all so I can’t use him again.

Between insurance, government, hospitals and doctors the reputation of all of them being jerks and crooks is very well earned.

I long for the day that an AI can be loaded into a automated room of robotic instrumentation and a medication dispensary stocked with pharmaceuticals produced by an automated lab can replace all of the money grubbing jerks in the medical system from the bottom to the top.

I know my words are harsh and will prompt endless backlash and rhetoric, but that’s the public view. If that image is wrong or you don’t like it, do something about it. Start a political action committee or an association of honest doctors or get together and have a documentary made that shows who the real bad guys are. Because when it comes down to it, someone is really screwing everything up and I for one know it’s not me. I’ve been patiently waiting for the average of my experiences to tick into positive territory for a few decades now and it’s only getting worse.

1. A lot of Doctors think they know your body better than you do. They are arrogant and egotistical. Their 7 years of med school, often their private school and elitest family background they have grown up being told by their family they are better than you. So of course when they see a patient they think they are god and superior.
Note to doctors; you aren’t.

2. Social media and Google searches mean patients can do a lot of research before seeing a doctor. I often go into an appt and can rattle research off that talks about new treatment methods the GP hasn’t even heard of! We need to stop being so reliant on doctors, they are human and fallible and we need to own our own health regime. The doctor is an expert but not a know it all. Walk away from any doctor who acts like they are; if you don’t they are putting you at an elevated level of health risk.

3. Doctors ARE money driven.they often seek to become senior medical consultants because when they get to that point they charge a heap more and do less. A doctor working in an ER at a hospital is paid ok but does huge hours. So they are mostly all trying to climb up higher where there is more specialisation and more money. A doctor is not immune to greed and the desire for wealth. If a doctor’s salary was 50 K a year imagine how many current doctors would be doing something else more financially rewarding. Most of them!

I no longer trust doctors. They are there to take my money. Ask for constant repeat referrals. They don’t listen to me as a patient. They don’t try and fault find. They Lazer focus on one or two symptoms them brush you off.

You as the patient know your body and what normal feels like for your body far better than ANY doctor. You live in your body. You know it. A doctor doesn’t. Particularly not one who spends no or very little time to try understand it.

It is reassuring to know that a family doctor is someone to be trusted. This is nice to know since it is true that there are heroic doctors out there. My sister would love having this reassurance since she is looking for a family doctor in the new area she moved to.

I am suffering from some digestive issues. I had to go to 6 Gastroenterologist and all they do is keep recording some stuff , not sure if they are listening to my issues. And they gave me high dose of antibiotics to treat my infection, without educating me abt the side effects and what to do abt it. For past 5 months I suffered at their hands. Non stop MRI’s , Ultra sound, it took 6 GI’s to tell me what is in my report and that too was not accurate. And aft my endoscopy was done , it showed my infection was gone. But still I was experiencing pain and similar symptoms. The. I did my own research and got stool
Test done and it showed positive. When I wrote an email to the doc who did the endoscopy, he replied aft 10 days saying , “ Thanks for the update “ and then when I consulted a reputed GI , hebwaa more worse, he saw 3 Patients in 20 mins or so whenhe was supposed to see me. And he just spent 1 min time with me and when I asked why my endoscopy showed neg and stool test showed pos. He bluntly says couple of times “
I DONT KNOW” I was stressed out scared if he does not know then who will know. Anyways he treated me like a customer and he a top knotch business man that I don’t five him good buss so I am waste customer to him and his reputated hospital. Then I star e seeing a hollistic doc who did listen and healing me , and for past few weeks getting better. Tho long way to go as the GI’ have damaged my system . I hate them what they did to me . I curse them.

All medicine is about today is profit, long gone are the days when there was personalized, human, friendly care, and all for very little money. Now it is prohibitively expensive, as most doctors resort to that vile, evil practice of sending you from one doctor to another, before back to them, so all get their share. Like a nasty mafia.

My problem is i don’t have any money or help to see a doctor I can’t get Medicaid because my fiance gets a disability check from social security and Medicare and my kids get a social security check because of their dad and my kids get Medicaid and i don’t get nothing I’m only fixing to be 36 on December 29th 2018 and I don’t know what to do or where to go and I have been told by some higher ups that it’s illegal for Medicaid and other places like that to use my fiance’s income for the fact we are not legally married but they still insist that they can this is confusing to me and it makes think that someone is trying to do an experiment on me to see how long a person can live without being seen by a doctor because I really have seen a doctor since i had my son wech is 10 because i had Medicaid at the I need glasses and I have a bad back and bad knees and bad ankles and i have major depressive disorder and i can’t get what I need I owe so much i hospital bills and i have been told I qualify for a social security check but when i tried and they keep telling me that there’s too much income in the household because of my fiance and are kids but what has me confused is if there’s too much income in the household why do they keep getting a raise in their checks from social security?!!!! And right now my fiance hurt his Achilles tendon and the retarded dumb founded doctor doesn’t want to give my fiance anything for the pain this is abuse

This is really very disturbing that many people consider Doctor as a GOD who gives them life..But because of some Doctors the whole community loosing the public trust..many people thought that Doctors nowadays only looting their money..they only suggest non affordable operations..But this is really very disturbing fact..
Thank you for discussing this sensible topic on this big platform..

Well, my doctor of 17 years just dumped me for zero reason. Not only did the fat ugly vagina looking creep dump me as a patient, she cut me off Fentanyl cold turkey for the second time. I truly hope she gets murdered in the most painful and long lasting way possible. I’d do it myself, but I have too much to risk right now…maybe later as my life gets worse & worse.

I have been poisoned, misdiagnosed, and almost killed at least three times by doctors who were brainless. The first time was when a dentist pulling a tooth dislocated my face bones and the bone that held on my head. Numerous, aka doctors and tests, told me I was fine. Because the blood work didn’t show anything. By the time my condition was found by a chiropractor, I couldn’t stand up. walk, eat or drive. Had a serious Brain injury from the ordeal. next I was overdosed on a sulfur antibiotic. Ended up in the ER. serious yeast infection, that has come back to haunt me in the form of a ten lb mass in my stomach. I know this ,caused it. I travel in a very small circle of friends… In the last few years, about four of my dear friends never made it home. I am HORRIFIED at the pathetic doctors we have and our health care system! You literally take your life in your hands by even going to see these QUACKS.

I have a numerous complaints about the health industry in general. The doctor’s take a “hypocritical oath” to swear not to do you any harm, but 90% of all doctors put their wealth before your health then there is a problem. Its hard to find a good honest doctor these days especially a dentist. I’ve been to three different dentists and I have three different answers, and all trying to give you what you don’t need. Also, the insurance companies such as Preferred Care Partners will list doctors to go to, and make it look like you have lots of doctors in the Miami, Florida area when choosing insurance. Thank you United States Government and “Medicare” for causing all of this problem, why not just cut out the middle man and give people especially seniors what they need instead of sending them down the river without a paddle.

When I went to the doctor for a check up, as I was worried that I was wheezing, she told me I was fat and had asthma. I went home & soon figured out I’m allergic to strawberries and as soon as I stopped eating them, my wheezing cleared. That was $1200. I must have seen her for 15 minutes. Had some blood drawn, weighed, chatted for no more than 2-3 minutes. $1200. Now that I haven’t paid that, I can’t go back right?

I don’t trust doctors because all of my doctors are useless like there not even trying because for 1 I’ve been having urinary tract problems for months now and my primary doctor isn’t being very helpful and they won’t send me 2 a specialist on that and they had me make an appointment with a GI doctor because I’ve been having so many stomach issues i have problems swallowing i have severe abdominal pain every day and i end up throwing up once every 2 weeks and the GI doctor came up with the latest they could do no matter how severe this is and when I throw up it’s like stomach bile because they said well you can’t come till December which is in 6 months for me so long to be left untreated for something like this and my headache doctor is acting like he doesn’t know what to do when i can think of plenty of things he hasn’t done that he could’ve done and my psychiatrist only gives me as much time as he needs to write a presentation to talk to him he doesn’t listen and he prescribes random medications that i probably don’t even need and that’s why I don’t trust doctors.

Wow Dr Girgis really got some folks riled. When I was a kid we were taught family mds knew what they were doing and not to question them. Somewhere in the early ‘80’s MDs wanted us to participate in our own health care and actually have conversations with them. Older MDs have a more difficult time on their tablets and talking with a patient. Young MDs do it without thinking. I’ve had some really great MDs, both PCP and specialists. They are the reason I’m alive today and I thank all the skilled health care workers in my prayers. For some people to think they make the highest pay is hilarious! I would like to see MDs go back to just dealing with pt care and leave the idiots behind desks out of my care. Drs need to explain to Pts that they have to follow the insurance company and the different AMA guidelines. That like teachers, they have little say in treatment without answering to some corporation. We have become boxes and not people because of paperwork and percentages. Case in point getting past a corporation to get message to MD before the corporation bought the practice one assistant and she passed info on and called back. Now it’s going through many people or email of which is vetted by several people and the MD may never read it. We as pts need to understand we can say no when some flunky calls representing the doctor saying medicine is needed. We need to know that a CNA is not a Nurse. We need to know that five people may be reading emails that you think are being sent to the MD. We need to understand MDs are human. Most importantly, we need to be stronger advocates not only with our MDs but the politicians who allow the nonsense of Corporate America running our health care. Thank you to all my hero MDs!

Doctors need to take some responsibility for this opioid crisis…so far, they’ve taken zero responsibility for the damage they helped create. Now, no doctor in my home town will prescribe me anything…nothing at all. I think they need to suffer like we have…plus interest.

When trying to figure out a health problem I have, I had been to five doctors, yes, five! They would either say, my issue was, I was getting older, I work too hard, or too much stress, but other than that couldn’t come up with what was going on. I went to a naturopath out of town and he found out by doing saliva tests. I had wasted many years, going to traditional doctors and all the while, getting worse and worse. I am sick of doctors not knowing enough about the body and how vitamins, minerals, etc. work or acting like they don’t know. I am sick of doctors treating symptoms and not really finding out what is wrong with you or curing you. Now, after years, I had to end up going to a world renown doctor/naturopathic/specializing in my issue. If I had been diagnosed sooner, I would have gotten better faster. But I wasted too much time and energy going to traditional doctors. The naturopaths I have been to throughout my life, have always found what was going on, they also, spent long periods of time with me. Most appointments are one and half hours long. How many MD’s spend that kind of time? I am so sick and tired of traditional MD’s pushing drugs at you. No wonder we have an Opioid addiction issue in this country. And some of them, have attitudes that they are like some sort of God. No thanks! I would take a naturopath over and M.D. ANYDAY!

doctors are quacks at least psychiatrists are they messed me up pretty bad and i am still messed up they put me on meds that i am sure i didnt need and changed my brain chemistry should have not trusted them i am so angry

Doctors have no one to blame but themselves. Sorry but I have had too many horrifying experiences. So many people blame lawsuits. 1. It’s hard to sue a doctor 2. Maybe if something was actually done about bad doctors, instead of cover ups just being made, people wouldn’t feel suing is their only recourse. I have zero sympathy for a doctor who is being sued. Try suffering and being blown off. Knowing something is wrong and paying exorbitant amounts of money just to be blown off. If anything, they should get sued more.

I can think of several reasons one cannot trust doctors anymore. 1. They give out drugs they know nothing about that can damage or kill people with certain genetic makeups. 2. They insist on using the TSH test which is notorious for not being accurate for all people and leave people under treated, depressed, high cholesterol, tired, short-of-breath etc. 3. They won’t admit when they make a mistake. 4. They think they know more about your symptoms and body then you do. 5. They push drugs when you say you don’t want them! 5. They order tests without asking you first (add them to a lab draw you are already getting without your permission). 6. They don’t try and find the root of the problem. 6. They don’t listen to you.

I have lost all the trust I’ve had in my doctors. In 2012, I began a successful migraine treatment that has carried on for several years. 1 preventative twice a day and tramadol as a pain reliever, as needed. When the FDA classified tramadol as a “powerful synthetic opioid”, my doctors weighed the consequences with me and determined that it was in my best interest to keep me on the meds. In the years that followed, I dropped the amount needed per month 3 separate times and never once required an increase in mg. Fast forward to 2018, my new doctors treat me like an drug addict, regardless of what is in my medical record showing progress. I can’t take hard opioids, and even Tylenol3 makes me loopy. But here I sit, 8 months after my initial visit, no meds to control the pain, no meds to control nausea and living my life wondering when the next “big one” will hit me.

I don’t know what can be done to repair this fracture between me and the doctors. I’m in the military and beholden to their broken healthcare system. I personally know Soldiers who I deployed with, who couldn’t control their pain and opted from marijuana. As a result, they were kicked out of the military. At some point, they will need to get smarter about how they approach main in servicemembers and not treat them like homeless drug addicts looking to score their next hit.

Boo hoo. Wah wah. This is a joke. Doctors lost my trust when they only spend 5 minutes after I traveled half an hour to see them. They lost my trust by incompetence and diagnosing me without even doing an exam. They lost me when I am told I have a yeast infection and given diflucan. I eat healthy, don’t wear tight clothing and not taking baths and still have one and then told well maybe you should try topical. How bout checking my blood sugar since I am orediabetic. How bout checking to make sure yeast instant trapped in my body ( happened to my sister). Unbelievable how it should be a process of elimination and they literally only go by what theee tests show or say well sorry nothing I can do. I am so sick of them Oh and as for them having to enter things into a system, great for more streamlining but they can still call and I have had good doctors here and there that do

This article misses the most important point. Doctors have lost public trust because they are inept in the least. They don’t know how to heal or cure anything. They even kill babies, then laugh and joke about it. Today’s doctors are merely big pharma puppets, they destroy health. All allopathic doctors need to be boycotted this is the only way. Big pharma thinks they can murder naturopathic doctors and shut down true healing centers with swat teams. We must boycott all unnecessary prescriptions (most of them) even all over the counter ‘medicines’ and stop seeing physicians for their harmful ‘preventative’ medicine practices. Vaccines don’t work. End of story. Chemo doesn’t work, chemo kills. Cancer itself is a hoax, there are many cures. Some of these have been shut down BECAUSE THEY WORKED. A serious, long boycott will bring them back! We must insist. Our lifespans are not 80+ years anymore that is fake news, it’s down to 69 or less currently, and children today eating gmo foods and getting full vaxxed their projected lifespan is only 45 years! Get big pharma OUT of the decision processes this is serious conflict of interest. Clean up the AMA. Full arrests for those responsible for fake news on things that are actually healing such as coconut oil, and claiming an herb or method as quackery when it isn’t. Today’s doctors are the quacks! They don’t even take your pulse anymore.
Stop chemtrails, all chemical use on crops and grocery store spraying fresh foods this is destroying our health as well. People stop seeing medical authorities as wanting what is best for you – THEY DO NOT. They only want to make you a patient for life. Social security is out of money and the flu shots target the elderly to shorten their lives, this is the real reason why they are free.
Doctors do not deserve our trust because they haven’t earned it!

I would like to start off by saying I am extremely sorry that you have been in a situation that has caused you to feel this way about not only a single doctor, but a profession as a whole. I understand that negative experiences can surely influence thoughts on a certain topic, but many of the overarching claims you have made in your comment are simply not backed by any merit. Your statement that doctors “don’t know how to heal or cure anything” is a very offensive thing to stay to individuals who sacrifice much of their life and dedicate it to the study of medicine and to helping others. The truth is that although there are many things that modern medicine is unable to cure, medicine as a whole has made amazing bounds forward in recent years and is able to safely and effectively treat many illnesses.
Perhaps one of the most influential developments by medicine on society has been that of vaccinations. In your comment you say that vaccines do not work and that people who are vaccinated have a life expectancy of 45 years. Everyone is surely entitled to their own opinion on all topics, vaccines included, but spreading blatant lies is certainly not the best way to go about this. While there are many safety concerns that people have about vaccines, research has repeatedly been shown that vaccines are both safe and effective in the prevention of many serious diseases. The effectiveness of vaccines have been so profound that some diseases have been either entirely or nearly eliminated since the introduction of certain vaccines. More information on safety concerns and vaccines can be found here, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/index.html and I encourage everyone to become more informed on vaccines, especially those who are unsure if vaccination is for them.
Unfortunately, there are doctors out there who do not have the patient’s best interest in mind and are driven by financial and other motives; however, the vast majority of physicians truly do care about the health and well-being of each of their patients. There are a few common overarching ethical guidelines physicians abide by as they work to provide the best possible care for their patients. One of these guidelines is that of beneficence, or acting in the best interest and serving to benefit their patients. Your comments that physicians look to destroy health and hide “things that are actually healing” goes directly against this guideline, the truth is that many of these remedies that you mention (such as coconut oil) are simply not backed by science and thus physicians cannot say with certainty that these will be beneficial to the patient, and thus will stick with prescribing known and effective treatments. I hope that this comment helps you to understand a little better the position that physicians come from, and more importantly empowers you to research more into the profession of physicians and the role they play in your health.

Oh, click. You are an MD. MDs are now hated by the vast majority of people. Every time I bring up the subject of MDs the entire room erupts in raspberries and swear words. I have been abused by MDs. I signed off on a surgery for scar reduction and left the OR with a full abdominoplasty, which I did not give consent to the doctor to perform. He just wanted to use me for target practice. Doctors never offer enough information for a truly informed consent. I was diagnosed with Hep C from a blood transfusion. I was offered one of the new DAAV drugs and was told there would be no side effects. I ended up in the ER, then urgent care, and not one doctor offered any treatment for the disabling side effects. Doctors need to die of neglect by one of their own. It is the only true restitution for all the hell they create in the lives of people they are supposed to be taking care of. My story is not unique. And the issues I’ve listed are a small subset of abusive events I’ve had to endure at the hands of MDs. I hate them and do not trust them. I now only go to naturopaths. Good riddance MD morons. They are the biggest narcissistic jerks on the planet!

I would like to believe that you are genuinely sorry about the negative experiences Siela may have had, however your sincerity is lost in your comment and the mumbo-jumbo of words which are lacking in specific facts and simply not backed by any merit.

I do understand how you can be offended if someone told you “doctors don’t know how to heal or cure anything” (after all, those many years of studying — or sacrificing as you call it — you were forced to learn many textbook heals and cures, right?

I feel (perhaps) you’re too busy ‘helping others’ dedication to medicine and the profit or notoriety gained from it rather than focusing on your primary function: to make the PATIENT feel better.

Your advice is absolute hogwash! You’ve been brainwashed by the billion dollar ‘alternative health’ industry and it is an industry. That is where you find an abundance of QUACKS.

“Doctors have lost public trust because they are inept in the least.”

NO they are NOT inept and CANCER is not a HOAX either.

“They don’t know how to heal or cure anything.”

You are sadly misinformed. I am thankful every day for the treatment my husband received from his medical team. His doctor is well known and respected in his field for a reason. I’m so very grateful to them because I know that my husband would not be alive today if it were not for western medicine, his wonderful doctor and medical team.

This was not an informative article at all! The main point of this essay is to blame everyone and every thing else for why people cannot stand doctors anymore. They are narcissistic, rude, shaming, filled with hubris and they treat women especially badly. I will never see another MD as long as I live. When they blow it, they refuse to be held responsible. Doctors are only concerned about their ego, their paycheck, their reputation, all in service to their self image. I hate them with every cell in my body. Every cell, and they are all healthy and disease free because I never seek medical care from an MD. I only see naturopaths and I’ve never been healthier. Self delusion, that is what this article truly is and I am laughing at your stupidity. Good luck finding patients who will believe your nonsense.

Of course women are treated horribly. Every doc who has participated in the gyn hoax deserves to be beaten to within an inch of their lives. Women have been told that their reproductive organs hang out down there only to kill them and must be monitored and felt up yearly Docs fail to give informed consent. If they did, they’d be forced to tell you that cervical cancer is rare, and does not require fanatical screening. Instead, they are pleased to get the money they make by scaring you into fearing something highly unlikely to happen. And what’s more powerful than ordering an Woman on her back with her legs wide open? Don’t ever ever do this. Ever. It’s a hoax. And it’s sexual assault. Educated women make no distinction between gyn and sexual predator. As for female docs, I am a highly educated scientist and researcher, and I know too much. Women were never welcomed into a man’s field with open arms. They were allowed in very conditionally, as long as they upheld the guys power. Female docs will defend male docs tonthe death as their power requires that they cleave to men to get their power. Sad isn’t it? Trust your instincts and stay away from these clowns. You’ll be healthier and you’ll live longer.

Ugh, Lisa, I’m so sorry!
Endo is a horrible disease. One I am pretty sure I have and it’s ruining my life, as well. Already pretty much disabled me.
Have you heard of the center for endo in Atlanta, GA? Supposed to be one of the best…Nancy’s Nook on facebook has recommendations, too.

I feel like this provider shows exactly why we don’t trust providers. They are completely out of touch with patients. I don’t think my provider isn’t listening because they are typing, I know they aren’t listening because they relay my medical information incorrectly. I’ve been asked if I have joint pain, I reply yes and where the pain is, 2 minutes later the dr. says they are ruling out an ailment because it causes joint pain and I don’t have any…… what? It took me 9 years to get diagnosed. 9 years of arguing with providers that they are wrong, finding new specialists and trying to convince them to dismiss all the variations of “ladies hysteria” noted in my chart by inept providers, over 72 different dr’s alone (I can’t tell you how many labs, images, tests and procedures I’ve had) to diagnose me with 2 common incurable serious medical conditions. I have been told it was in my head in numerous ways, including by my neurologist, only to find out it partly is but not in the way the dr’s diagnosed me. I have a nerve condition. My 5th neurologist (I fired the previous 4) sat across from me 3 weeks before my neurological condition was diagnosed by a cardiologist and confirmed through testing order by said cardiologist, this neuro looks at me in my eyes and tells me not to worry about my half drooping face and inability to smile on one side. I was only worrying because “I was thinking about it, just stop thinking about it”. He smiled, clearly patting himself on the back. Out of the 72 plus providers I’ve seen, 5 helped me. 5. The others took my money, time and energy and did literal harm by charting poorly and inaccurately (Legacy’s system says I have 4 conditions including irregular periods…I haven’t had a uterus in 7 years…. they will not correct my current conditions to be accurate). Patients don’t trust dr’s because dr’s are untrustworthy. Pre internet they were seen as authority figures, the all knowing of the human body. Now with the internet, if you find yourself ill and relying on providers to make you well, you’ll quickly realize that our medical knowledge (or lack of) ranks us barely another monkeys poking each other with sticks.

Where do I start. The incompetence is extremely disturbing. I was misdiagnosed for about a decade until my spine literally caved in one day and I was looking at being a quad. I had been to so many doctors and basically verbally and mentally abused. I was told I was too fat, a drug seeker (I am allergic to many meds-especially opioids), crazy, it went on and on. I had a previous paralysis and spine surgery at age 29 and even with my history I was not worthy of any tests or help. Finally, I gave up trying to get someone to listen or help me when an ER threatened to arrest me if I did not leave. Eventually I was sent to counselling to learn imagery to stop my pain that was supposedly all in my head. There I got very good at ignoring my pain and symptoms and they were very good at convincing me I was just crazy. Needless to say I had 3 spine surgeries in 4 months. So now thanks to all my “great” counselling I have severe mental health issues and have ran out of doctor appointments, during the appointment, pulled IVs and escaped hospitals while very ill, refused to call 911 or go to an ER when I had sepsis and almost caused my own death. This is what happens when you abuse a patient for over a decade, you make them crazy.

I would really like someone to let me know when and why it became okay to torture patients at pain clinics. I see a pain clinic as a place a person goes to if they want to be in pain. I had a spinal injection where I was strapped down, forcibly held down, and tortured with needles in my back screaming in pain until I passed out. The next day I could not walk or go to the bathroom. As usual since I was injured I was immediately dismissed and had to figure out how to care for me and my young child, I was a single parent. Doctors treat people like dirt. They treat you very poorly, torture you, injure you and toss you out like trash.

I hate telling my neurosurgeons my story because it made one of them cry! Verbal, mental, and physically abusing patients is just fine and the government lets these people continue the abuse. I complained to the state about my doctors, the few I could remember the names of, and of course the state thought it was perfectly fine I was abused and permanently disabled. I have learned nobody cares, until you are dying, and then all the sudden they care. Probably because a patient is seen as nothing but INCOME My only peaceful thought is someday I will be dead and I won’t have to deal with any jerk doctor ever again!

OK, I live in northern Ontario in Canada. I’ve been screwed over by a few doctors in this small town. Nobody has ever believed me, so where do I start and where do I go? It’s sad and pathetic. Either nobody believes me, or they don’t care at all, or both…so I won’t even bother reiterating. Just because the person passed medical school with a 75% average doesn’t suggest you are safe to put your life in their hands. Man was I wrong about doctors.

I broke my neck as a child when someone jumped on top of me in a pool. My hands were numb and my neck painful. I was about 9 years old. I had an extremely high pain tolerance. Doctors said I was seeking attention and recommended psychiatric care. This lasted 10 years until I saw a Chiropractor who easily treated and cured the symptoms. I became a Chiropractor because all the MD’s were rude and I wanted to treat people with respect. Half of all my patients I treated were misdiagnosed by MD’s I was surprised how dumb and ignorant these doctors were. This is before the internet. I loved my patients and if any doctor mistreated them they expected me to call them and file a complaint with the state medical board. It takes their valuable time to respond so they tended to behave. There was a list of all the good MD’s too. Chiropractors were despised because MD’s scam surgeries were exposed. Now the MD’s are brainwashed and do what the insurance companies tell them. Why become an MD if you spend years in school and have no financial reward ? The government is the main cause of the problem as are the voters who think everything is free. I am older and have medical issues and the care is horrible. You have to be dying to get into the hospital and wait months for normal diagnostic testing. Do not be scared to piss off any doctor. Demand tests and care and have the doctor explain why you are wrong. Send them summary notes to document every visit into your records.

For some o nearly being killed by doctors in our childhoods…especially in infancy when i spiked a fever after a vaccination..could be qa factor.
Ithen again it could be the many doctors that were highly abusive to me as a child, sending my mother out of the room and spanking me for crying when i was under 4. I also remember a pediatrician forcibly pinning me down to dig wax out of my ears with a steel implement ..This because my mom was told i would “outgrow dairy allergies”. The dairy was causing the problem.
Then there were the years of allergy shots mom subscribed to because i would wake up with my eyes swelled shut from “seasonal allergies”. Those shots never worked.
Later i found out that avoiding corn and soy derivatives, milk and animal products not only cured my “seasonal allergies”, but also cleared up the PMS, cystic breasts and heavy bleeding i suffered for years and that MDs could only treat by prescribing birth control pills , which thankfully i refused to take.
Despite the fact that i am highly educated, and my brother is a well known surgeon, the only time i would seek a doctor’s help is in an absolute emergency.
In ordinary circumstances i wouldn’t trust them behind my back with a rubber spatula.

Alex, I agree with you as well. It seems that they just want to put everybody on pills. I just left my doctor 2 hours ago. I went to him because my lower back still hurts from where I broke it 1-1/2 years ago. It feels like something has popped out of whack in my spine. Anyhow, he was more interested in asking me if I felt depressed, if I had problems sleeping, if I felt like I overeat, if I ever felt suicidal? Ummmm…. NO. None of those! I feel like something is out of alignment or come loose in my back! He made me feel like he was pushing antidepressants, sleep aids, diet pills, or whatever. If I could have just gone to the lab and requested tests, and gone to the imaging department and had xrays… I would have probably bypassed him altogether. I am now in search of a good holistic doctor. I’m 57 and don’t take any drugs whatsoever except CBD oil. Allopathic doctors don’t want to hear about CBD oil. But I’m here to tell you that it definitely works for me! I am thru with medical doctors!

Something constructive for Doctors to consider: The internet.
It is no longer relevant for Doctors to hide behind the saying “my PHD trumps your google search”. That just is not the case anymore. I cannot tell you how many times PHD prescribed medicine has caused issues and side effects that the doctors and nurses were unaware of or acted confused by. Their answer was to prescribe something else to counter that side effect and then something else to counter the side effects of THAT one.
One google search about symptoms, side-effects of prescribed drugs, etc. and we got ourselves off the garbage and on the right track. One search to discover those symptoms are side effects of what THEY prescribed. The other part is what you do and don’t learn in medical school. Naturalistic approaches and nutrition are typically not required learning material.
As someone else mentioned above, there’s also “treatment” vs “cures”. There’s little money in a cure if you’re not coming back to the office. Treatments on the other hand are often rendered “forever”. Just to find out later from a helpful naturalistic/holistic doctor that you most likely have a magnesium deficiency which we slightly scoff at and then take it cause it’s too easy to not try just to get CURED for good. Sheesh.

All that, but I do know Doctors who feel much more handcuffed in what they are even “allowed” to do. Often leaving practices because it angers them to have to treat customers that way. They are looking for a recourse too outside of this POWERFUL system. Maybe self-employed and insured concierge doctors making personal home visits will re-immerge and give the medical professionals who are also disgusted with the system a place to use their skills in a better way.

I think your artical is a criminally dishonest victimization of doctors. You have THE HIGHEST paying jobs on the planet, The rules aren’t new, you knew them before you went into this profession and if you didn’t then you should be a healthcare provider. I am a victim of sexual emotional and physical abuse at the hands of doctors, as well as his prescription that resulted in stomach ulcers and seratonin syndrome. And you think the public should feel bad for them because they went to school for a job that they don’t like, or they don’t like the rules their boss makes, or whatever it is. Doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists (aside from true volunteer workers) get paid far more than enough to do their job without patients living in fear and doubt. The public stopped trusting doctors because they make money off our suffering, they are dishonest (or at the least untransparent), a great many of them get under the table payoffs from big pharma and you can’t deny it. Ive been turned into a lab rat and then left for dead by so called doctors and they even took it a step further and insured I couldn’t receive care to combat the damage they’d done. You can say anything you like, but there is no rule anywhere that says being a doctor makes you inherently good, and I know first-hand the kind of evil they are capable of. You want our trust, earn it. If you really believe that most doctors don’t care about profit more than their patients health then you are severely naive and sheltered. It’s not hard to figure out howuch shady business there is that lines doctors pockets across the world while keeping people I’ll.

I will never feel bad for any doctor for them having to work too hard. If your ONLY priority isn’t saving lives and mainting people’s health then you are a part of the problem that keeps this system broken.

I found this article when I typed “who do I ask for help when I’ve been abused by doctors?” And this is what came up. An article about how wrong I am for not trusting everyone who went to medical school.

This article is disgusting, hurtful, disrespectful to victims of doctor abuse, and outright wrong. I intend to try to have this removed on the those grounds as well as the misinformation it contains.

Amen!!! I so agree. Am 61 yrs old and looking for a doctor that has a one doctor team with a nurse to take vitals and a receptionist to answer phones and make appts, like back in the days when doctors cared about their patients

It’s pathetic how Dr. Girgis points the finger at everyone and everything except the doctors themselves. A true sign of narcissism that goes hand-in-hand with the arrogant condescending attitude the vast majority of doctors treat their patients with.

The real reasons patients do not trust or respect doctors is because they treat patients like a laboratory experiment undeserving of human compassion or rights. They are condescending as though the patient is stupid. They rarely if ever cure a patient and make them healthy, rather they just pass out pharmaceutical drugs like its candy and expect them to continue taking stiff for the rest of their lives as opposed to actually fix something and help them to be healthier. I realize this is what they are taught in medical school…have this symptom, take this drug and if there is no drug for it, then it doesn’t exist and it’s all in your head. Come on now, who wants to pay hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars to be disrespected and go away feeling raped and violated when you’re sick, scared and just want help.

Doctors complain they don’t make any money. That’s a bunch of crap. My brother-in-law is a doctor; he lives in a 2+ million dollar home and has a 1+ million dollar beach home in San Diego. He complains that his wife’s AmEx bill is $18,000 a month, his children have a full-time nanny and a part-time nanny. And he goes on vacation once a month. And no, he’s not a surgeon and he’s not an oncologist. My daughter’s best friend from childhood is a doctor, lives by herself and complains she has a half of a million dollar student loan debt hanging over her head but 1 year out of residency she goes out and buys a $50,000 car and a $400,000 home. I realize family doctors don’t make as much as speacialists, but they’re still raking in the cash. i in it Dr. Griggs to go talk to the 62% of th people who file for bankruptcy due to outrageous medical bills and ask them what they had to do to stay afloat. I’ll bet they stayed afloat on a fraction of what she thinks she is entitled to. It’s bad enough to be sick and treated poorly by the medical establishment, but to have to file bankruptcy because of it is sinful.

No Dr. Griggs, you are wrong about why patients don’t respect or trust doctors. Go take sandbox 101, learn how to play fair and treat people decently, train your staff to be kind and respectful of sick people and realize they are human beings just like you. Then, put your big girl pants on and quit selling your soul to the devil (I.e. Insurance) companies) and be ethical enough to do what is in the best interest of your patients rather than what the bank tells you to do. If you’re going to enter an contract with an insurance company and then do exactly as they say because that’s where you get your money, then what kind if a doctor are you? The answer is, you’re not, you’re a paid tool who wasted 4 years of medical school if all you’re going to do is take orders when you know it’s not in the patients best interest.

Oh, I get it, you’re afraid if you don’t play with the insurance companies your patients won’t be able to afford you and you’ll go out of business. Then lower your prices…doctors made a fine living long before insurance companie. They may not have been millionaires but they made a good living…even ones who accepted fresh eggs for their services.

The bottom line is, do you want to help people or do you want to be a flashy millionaire?

Lottie–OMG this was brilliant! Not only have I been misdiagnosed and severely bullied by Healthcare and doctors for 12+ years but I had The Misfortune of marrying one I met in a hospital waiting room. Talk about predators… I have a bird’s-eye view of doctors from a patient’s perspective, as well as from their “High and Mighty” platform.

You hit the nail on the head, on every single point! There is NO CARE in healthcare and I wonder if there ever was? I haven’t seen it for a very long time… And from what I can tell, it’s just getting worse…like a systemic disease.

Our doctors are poisoning Healthcare. Your response should be published for every doctor to read. Well done!

I started questioning my doctors about 10 years ago. When I was a child I got random rashes. The doctor said it was poison ivy, even in February. As a became an adult I developed what appeared to be Eczema. The Dermatologist prescribed a steroid cream that I was supposed to use twice a day, maybe for life. When I was 33 I started having abdominal pain. My doctor said I had GERD and prescribed some proton pump inhibitor. I mentioned to the doctor that I had read that changing my diet would fix it. To me that made sense that my diet would affect my stomach. Well I saw the look of annoyance on his face. He didn’t like that I had read something. He said “Look if you want to eat bananas for the rest of your life go ahead! Or you can just take these pills. I knew right the he was a quack! I never took the pills. It took my one more year to figure out it was gluten! I quit gluten for a week and a half and my Eczema was gone for the first time in 13 years! My stomach was better and I felt fantastic! These doctors had been selling me snake oil for the last 32 years! I called my mom and she quit gluten which honestly saved her life. She had bad stomach issues for most of her life. So it was me that figured out how to fix my health not the doctor. Further more if I had not defied the doctor I would still be sick. Now when I see my doctor it’s awkward because he’s all fat and trying to give me heath advice.

I am just upset. It is when I have trust and good rapport with my physician and the the practice sells to a Hospital. The practice changes and then the rapport. I have had this happen to me twice with my doctors and then they even leave the newly acquired hospital practice and am not notified of their departure. Very disheartening. I know that is is better security for them and financially. But when making that decision the focus is definately not the patient. Being a patient: in Latin it means “to endure or to be taken care of”. I will and have endured but the taken care of is the doctors position. Thank you for listening. Perhaps if the hospital – clinic acquisitions department can slow down and work on patient doctor relations during the transitions and good customer service would be helpful. Kind Regards Brenda, CSR experienced.

Dcotors have done nothing but ruin my life I will never trust them fully. I trusted a Doctor and he took away my ability to jump and run after 6 surgeries to fix his mistake that he covered up for 5 years.

Delaware hospitals are now no longer fee-for-service. That’s the core problem, fee-for-service. There’s no incentive for doctors to help you because no matter the demand government has for them they can’t force a doctor to solve someone’s illness. Therefore the best money maker is repeat profits from repeat sickness – keeping people sick. Demand testing for all nutrients found in the US RDA. You’ll be asked what symptoms you have for each of those tests. Come prepared with those answers. Tell them you likely have deficiencies because you don’t eat a perfect diet. If you give your body what it needs, you’ll be more healthy and determined to get your problem fixed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23860193

It’s hard to trust a doctor who doesn’t trust me. They seem to not want to write out sick notes for more than two days in advance no matter how sick you are, necessitating going back to the doctor’s office and paying another copay. You could have the flu and need to be out for a week but they’ll write you a note for 2 days.

They seem to lack the understanding that if I don’t get well within a certain period of time, I can lose my job, and if I don’t take time off when I’m sick, I won’t get better.

I only have so many sick days I’m allowed to have. I was telling my doctor that I needed to be back by a certain date because I’d run out of sick days and was using vacation time to get over a cough that was so hard that I couldn’t work. I was literally coughing so hard that pee was coming out and it was making me throw up.

The whole point of the conversation was that I wanted to get BACK TO WORK.

However he seemed to be hearing the opposite, as if I was trying to get out of work. He was saying things like “You might just have to go to work coughing” and all this stuff and I told him that I couldn’t work as hard as I was coughing and that customers and my fellow employees would be afraid of me.

He still seemed to think I was somehow trying to game the system and I was not. I just wanted to get well so I wouldn’t lose my job. But somehow he wasn’t hearing ME, he was hearing all these other people who weren’t me who were trying to get off work by lying, but I wasn’t lying.

Find a functional medicine doctors. I had similar symptoms with the coughing, peeing, and vomiting. Search and you will find after much reading that coughing, vomiting can be caused by acid reflux. It’s not told in most medical search results. But acid reflux need not be bothering you to have acid -reflux, except for maybe indigestion or bloating that one keeps dismissing for overeating. Mine got to the point that when I woke up my throat hurt, and had bad breath, and I was completely emptying my bladder spontaneously and I wound up not being able to speak at all, and vomiting/coughing 8 straight hours a day over a toilet in a pool of urine. I stopped eating because I could not keep anything down, and I could not hold water either, I was skin and bones and lost muscle mass. I was sucking on ice all day. The ER discharged me one night with “bronchitis” because I had no insurance. Their faces were white with worry, looking at each other like… “oh oh this is bad what should we do that we cant do?” they left with faces full of guilt, to then send a nurse to discharge me. I went home and thought well… I healed myself 30 years ago from mercury amalgams, so let me do the same. I used to be on a vegetable diet, let me start with any that I like that I can hold. I sautéed my favorite: spinach withbutter – and found I kept that down! So that’s all I could eat, then one day I was able to keep down water. So I added more lightly sautéed green vegetables like chard, and then carrots, broccoli, then steamed vegetables of all kinds with organic butter, the added raw salads with a little true pure olive oil, changed my salt to celtic salt (important).. about a month later I added small serving of organic chicken, wild fish, wild caught sardines, last organic beef but rare. I found myself wanting more veges than any meat. I gained weight, my cough stopped in a few days and so did my bladder incontinence. My muscle mass came back. I added potatoes occasionally, because potatoes and pasta and bread and some rice were the culprits in indigestion. especially pasta bread. So look up gluten intolerance. Rice I changed to Jasmine which does better. Most doctors don’t know anything about this. They just learn to prescribe medicine. Also read about non-gmo probiotics and how junk food with toxins kill them and degenerate the lining. And live foods unprocessed have live enzymes necessary to break down foods – that then bacteria further break down to create needed chemicals/nutrients for our body. I know I have to do more like detox more mercury because I never removed my amalgams, and do internal herbal cleansings to kill viruses and bacteria and clean out old debris, as well as find out deficiencies as mercury also displaces minerals and vitamins, etc. SO some testing the natural methods are needed. So read up on these things and the gut brain connection.

I dont think the reason people are losing trust in doctors has much to do with the reasons listed in the article. I think the reason people have lost trust in doctors is very simple, and very clear: its becoming apparent that doctors cant cure anything or actually fix anything. rom the day we’re old enough to talk, we’re told as children “make sure you go to the doctor if you have a boo boo”…”follow the doctors orders” etc. And now that people have reached adulthood and have real ailments that need to be addressed, the followup question has become “well, why should I, mom?”

For the amounts that taxpayers have invested in healthcare research, and for the amount that individuals pay for their own health care bills out of pocket, the widespread result in terms of actual cures or solutions provided for any number of illnesses have been paltry, at the very best.

Doctors looking down at notepads too much isnt the problem at all. Trust me, a doctor could walk in the room completely blindfolded, if hes able to cure the patient or at least fix the patient’s problem, 9 times out of 10, that patient is walking out of that doctors office as happy as a lark.

But if you read some of the stories here and elsewhere (Im not even referring to the nightmare stories of doctors with bad manners/social skills) you start to notice a trend of people spending INORDINANT amounts of money for years, sometimes decades at a time, to find cures, or even just answers to their health issues, to no avail. This is mentally and financially devastating and this would not be allowed in any other industry/profession. Almost every other industry has a merit based component to its compensation system (teaching, engineering, architect, salesperson etc)…you either fix the problem/get your children to pass the test, or you eventually lose your job. Either you hit the desired metric, or youre out the door. Medical doctors are the only professionals that are allowed to remain suspended in a permanent state of practice. As long as doctors complete their CEs every few years and keep their license in good standing, they can remain in practice mode with no expectation of actually fixing a problem. You dont call a plumber and pay him to “practice” fixing your pipes, and hope that his “practice” solves the problem. Instead, you expect a plumber to FIX the problem. And a plumber who cant fix plumbing problems, doesnt stay in business.

Contrast that with doctors who maintain medical practice indefinitely, and are compensated handsomely, for generally not actually fixing or solving anything (the average U.S. life expectancy has actually decreased, not increased, over the past couple decades); all while charging you exhorbitant fees as you watch your health continue to wane.

Dare I say: most people wouldnt trust their plumber either if they knew those were the odds they faced going into the business arrangement with him.

“Almost every other industry has a merit based component to its compensation system (teaching, engineering, architect, salesperson etc)…you either fix the problem/get your children to pass the test, or you eventually lose your job. ”

Thank you! I’m SO TIRED of having to pay $200-$300 for office visits where the doctor basically shrugged his or her shoulders and did nothing to help, causing me to need to come in for yet another office visit. In what other industry do you get rewarded for not solving the problem?

I would love if my surgery as a cash paying patient did not cost $83,000 when their is only 1 doctor and 2 nurses. It’s a little insane in America. Having an out patient cardiac ablation should never cost that much. Seriously. Am I paying for people that can not pay their bills?

Yes your medical not only pays for the other person but also covers the doctors medical malpractice insurance unfortunately. But the hospitals can write them off. If you need an ablation then you have an infarction or serious arythmia. A good chiropractor find out what is wrong with the nerves in my spine and “unpinch” them which makes your heartbeat more regular. I hate doctors. I have only found a few I trust.

I am a PhD research scientist and I have become very frustrated with the medical system because nearly every time I see a doctor, they tell me it is either GERD or allergies and I know better. I’m not a freaking number in an algorithm I’m a human being!!! How would these doctors want to be treated if THEY were the patient? Unless you have a problem that has a drug that can treat it, forget about going to see a doctor- it is a waste of time, money and may lead to something worse. Coxsackie is a HUGE unrecognized problem for adults, and for some reason the medical system has not kept up on recent research on the links between Coxsackie and a host of other problems including chronic fatigue syndrome, persistent/recurrent upper respiratory tract infections, type I diabetes, bowel problems, brain fog, depression, eye damage, hearing damage, heart problems, reactivation of other viruses including EBV, CMV, etc. Coxsackie mutates very rapidly, which is why there is no good pharmaceutical for it, which is probably why it causes such a spectrum of different disorders, as well as why doctors don’t even acknowledge that it exists even though there are good tests to detect it if done when one first has symptoms. As someone said above, follow the money. If there isn’t big drug money to be made, the problem doesn’t exist!!! This lack of recognition by those who are supposed to be protecting our health is probably shortening the lives of many because there are non-pharmaceutical interventions that can help alleviate or prevent some of the damage caused by Coxsackie virus infection. They are very individualized and require time invested on the part of the physician and patient, as well as changes in diet, sleep, exercise, and the use of non-pharmaceutical natural products. But since the drug industry doesn’t have any money to be made in this, good luck getting your doctor to even run a freaking test to see if you have it!!! As someone above also noted, this is just one of many signs of a broken system. Medicine is supposed to be for the patient, but it has become for the profit makers. And this is true even in not-for-profit medicine. The greed (of the pharmaceutical industry) for wealth drives everything about medicine. As a patient, arm yourself with the facts, confront your lazy and uniformed doctor, and tell them that they need to start listening to patients instead of preaching the drug industry sermon. If they don’t listen, ask for a second opinion and go to an expert who actually cares. Then go back to their boss and their bosses boss and tell them the jeopardy that they put you in by ignoring your clinical reality.

Every time I see a doctor, I get an “additional bill” in the mail because my doctor wants MORE MONEY than they agreed to be paid by the insurance company. Why is this my problem? I had not part in the negotiation between the doctor and Blue Cross. Looks like a license to print money and I’m stuck with the bill. Worse, the doctors won’t even tell you what their services will cost. Instead, they require you to sign an agreement to pay “whatever they feel like billing you.”

When one visit I see a PA and the next the doctor I don’t know who is calling the plays. I’m tired of drugs that are more dangerous being pushed on me when the 1.98 a month drug works perfect and I have never abused it. The medical field needs to get the government off their back and big Pharma too. It’s obvious we are being injected and slowly poisoned so that we become life long drug dependent humans for big pharma to make a buck. Gone are the days that they actually cured a disease that doesn’t make them money.

The United States has the worst medical of any first world company. Yet it is also the most expensive by far..
I believe the problem is exactly what the public believes. Doctors have lost their way.
I personally refuse to go to standard Doctors. After 8 to 10 experiences that likely cost me $5K of tests. I realized that going to the Dr was actually an expensive hindrance to health. ALL their advice, and 80% of the tests conducted were inappropriate and useless for my symptoms.
I went to a Men’s clinic and for $300 a month I am much much healthier than I have been in 20 years.
No thanks to standard Doc’s.

I worked in healthcare for decades and I, too, have seen the way trust has shifted. I do believe that there are bad doctors out there, but I also believe that there are great doctors out there whose hands are tied by insurance companies, corporations and government. Most docs now are employed by others…because most docs could not afford to be private and most hospitals öwn”their doctors and the private docs would have no privileges in hospitals. The öwners make unreachable goals for a doc (provider) to reach and unfairly monitor their every move. I think they forgot who the REAL caregiver is. In any event, the influx of patients claiming injuries/illnesses that are not verified are also a huge problem in healthcare. I could go on and on, but there will not be any resolution. No one will stand up for themselves for fear of losing privileges or being blackballed for being honest and trying to make a difference. SAD

Agreed. Most Americans have no idea what reasonable health care treatment looks and feels like. European doctors paid one third of prevailing wages here are usually far more competent and can actually speak with you and listen – compassion is typical. American doctors barely even speak with you. They are in and out in 5 minutes tops –
its a time limit. American doctors are principally driven by profit. They make 7-20 times an average American wage and the incentive encourages the greediest med school candidates – not the most competent or caring. Medical Doctors in training work inhumane overtime hours and are treated poorly with little oversight or instruction. They are taught to just wing it before they understand much of anything and this cavalier attitude persists. They work in environments with a poor connection to the community and frequent deaths a the training hospitals. In order to survive emotionally, especially during residency training, they become desensitized to death and suffering. By the time you go to them for an illness or pain they have internalized suffering to such a degree that they say to themselves, “you are just lucky you’re not dieing! Why are you bothering me with your petty concern?” Allopathic medicine is also a disgraceful failure. The consensus making system in medicine is broken. Bad science is everywhere and profit driven treatments trump everything else. 400,000 death each year are attributable to medical ERRORS. It is a catastrophe and these criminals get away with it. I am fleeing to Europe for better care. No more abuse at the hands of this pathetic and uncivilized system.

I think a little common sense and a lot of self education will tell you that magic bullets are a profit making pipe dream. Solving the complexities of disease resolution can not be addressed from the simplistic reductionist approaches that have become the cornerstone of allopathic medicine. I’m done with conventional medicine.

The oft used line, “Half of what we know is wrong, we just don’t know what half” is sage, particularly with regards to modern medicine. It is a widely held belief that medical practitioners over prescribe medication and unnecessary procedures, often with the best intentions, based on flawed science and to justify their existence.

I wouldn’t say say we have lost trust in Doctors, but that we have become more
aware of good doctors and bad, My Mother and Father at 86, do everything the Doc. says, or refers to. They were given new Oncologists to see, I told them the Doctor they had been did’t have a very good rating based on Patient reviews. They said they were going cause the doctor said so. I look first for the best Doc. I can Find for my care. After all What do you call a Doc. who is in the lower 15% of his Class, Doctor. Sure there out for the money, but the insurance companies lie to them too. Some Doctors do not care, and that shows in their bed side manner.

Bang on, if someone needs and is asking for help almost on the knees but they are unhappy with there weight.. they should be put on a weight programme, not told your weight is fine do you want meds and here’s counselling.. lol waste of time money motives with evil lol I won’t stand in line, I was troubled by this I’m sure many others have stay strong 🙂

Had that to happen just this past Saturday. Finally diagnosed myself with Costochondritis, after being told I was excited. EKG, BLOOD WORK, CT SCAN ( allergic to Dye Contrast but was given it with a dose of predisone, well the prednisone only covered hives & itchng, not what the dye did to my liver, pancreas, spreading the inflammation to right side. But Dr, if you want to call her that, wanted more test, it all came down to CHI CHING Will seek further help naturally until I leave this world. Started trying to find answer to chest pain, cough, etc only to be inundated with useless test that was only for the money. I don’t take pain meds, only one med for thyrod per day. Dont pop a pill for everything, but when I am hurting as bad as I have been I expect a medical dr to act like one instead of

I can’t find a regular medical dr. They are so busy trying to push you threw their office but they are sure quick to collect the money , I went to the emergency room having real bad pain in my chest area I have been fighting breast canser already had surgery an seeing all kinds of doctors but I had to wait for hours to be seen then after giving me 2 or 3 reasons for the pain in my chest the doctor rubbing my leg telling me he thought he was having a heart attack an was rubbing his head , they loaded me up with strong pain medication sent me home ,found out it was hormone meds.that was causing all the pain, doctors don’t care to figure out your problem it is all about the money and how many patients to get threward their offices an line their pockets an when they won’t help you theyesterday send you to another doctor so they can charge you to. What are people going to do I have had doctors and fighting cancer was the worst I felt like with all they were putting me threw I spent most of my healing at home by my self ,but getting bills every day . I hope they wait on me paying them they have made a fortune off my insurance an still sending me 3000.00 worth of bills,

This happened to me. I suffered for 8 years because of a cyst. Doctors thought I just wanted pain pills so they did no testing to see why I wanted to rip my own face off. 8 years later one finally listened and found a calcified cyst that damaged my facial bones. I had surgery and am better, but they could have fixed it earlier if they would have actually listened to me.

You nailed it on the head! I had terrible adverse effects to medication but didn’t realize what it was. I had crushing chest pain, difficulty breathing, BP 170/100, dizziness, lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. Not only did the first four doctors blow me off as an “anxious female,” they were really nasty about it and one of them was so unethical it left me in shock. I got so ill I could barely walk or stand and just made my will and waited to die. Luckily for me, I started vomiting and figured it out. After I recovered I hit the medical literature and although rare, these medications can cause unstable angina and stroke.

Articles like this minimize the problem, adding insult to injury. I could care less if a doctor makes eye contact, don’t endanger my life because of your own prejudices. I would rather just die at home then get treated like garbage by people so biased they wouldn’t be allowed to work at TSA.

I feel for all the cases listed here and can understand where you are all coming from. I have worked in healthcare for decades and can see the demands placed on doctors everyday. It is not the same as it use to be. This last year I came down with the flu. I was home sick over two weeks and was under doctor’s care. About two weeks after recovering from the flu I became very weak, fatigued, and had difficulty walking. I went straight to the PCP where she had little to nothing to say about what was happening. Basically said she had seen a few others similar cases and to seek PT. When PT would not see me because I was still so sick and no diagnosis I returned to the PCP. PCP’s office would not assist me with getting a message to doctor and no explanation. Just the doctor would not be returning the call and no appointment available. I sought a second PCP. Initially, the second doctor seemed helpful and followed me for months. First initially seeing him weekly, than every few months. My weakness and fatigue continued and I was barely able to do house hold chores, grocery shop, or even work. Basically only taking my BP and vital signs no physical exam at all and no lab tests. Over a period of time I began to have issues with my bladder, UTI??? He treated me multiple times sight unseen nor any UA or cultures…just antibiotics. Since this is not my norm when I experienced symptoms again I called the office to speak to the PCP. He ordered antibiotics again and insisted I came to the office the next day. I questioned if he wanted an UA first and he said no start the antibiotics and he would do the UA the next day. In theory I knew this was backwards, but he insisted. I went to the office the next day. The office staff assisted me with the UA and then asked me to wait in an exam room. After a little while the doctor came flying into the room very escalated. This was surprising to me, since I had not seen him like this before. He was very agitated that I was in the office and began to speak to me aggressively regarding my symptoms of a UTI and the causative factors. He went down a check list 1.) menopause, 2.) hygiene, 3.) sexual activity…escalating the entire time as I am sitting in his office. Almost like Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde. At one point I almost thought he had mistaken me for another patient when he went off on a very inappropriate discussion regarding sexual activity. I was new to his practice and we had never had any discussion previously regarding that or gynecology, etc. I actually became frozen and speechless as he banged his hands on the desk and told me he was “sick & tired” of speaking to me about my sexual activity…
Since my illness I had also developed a tremor along with the weakness and fatigue. When the doctor became so escalated my tremor was very noticeable. He began asking questions and seemed to not recall my case. He did not have my chart, nor had he ever called me by name, nor had his staff properly ever called me by my name. So I continued to think he had the wrong patient. At a point he began yelling in the office and yelled that I have Parkinson’s Disease and walked out of the exam room and never came back. In fact no one ever came back in and I put my coat on and left. I subsequently visited my OB/gyne and neurologist who both felt I might have developed a neurogenic bladder due to the unexplained weakness/fatigue post viral episode. The neurologist was mortified that the PCP had been yelling an unfounded neurological diagnosis at me. My concerns were still he was speaking to the wrong patient, but then what kind of doctor speaks to any patient like this. My specialists felt I should confront him regarding this visit. So I returned for another office visit to only speak to him. I asked if we could talk about the last time I was in the office. He said yes you were here for a UA. I agreed, but then went into what happened after that. He first said he did not have those details charted, then gave excuses that I misunderstood him, his accent/poor english (neither were the case). At one point he almost was crying and gave a very sincere apology. And then understood why I might not want to return (trust had been broken) he was uncomfortable and felt he should no longer take care of me as a patient. And we mutually agreed. I shared that I would be taking a copy of my chart and he went to the office staff to get it prepared. So I returned a few days later to pick up my chart to find the final doctor’s entry stating that everything that I talked to him about never occurred and he denied our conversation. As I reviewed the EMR I continued to be shocked by the multiple inaccurate entries throughout. Each visit he documented physical examination he did not perform. I had been too weak to step up onto the exam table, so it would have been impossible for him to complete such examination. It sickens me that such doctors exist and such disrespect to the oath that each doctor takes to “first do no harm”. This means physical and emotional harm. One the trust is broken between patient and doctor there is no repairing it.

If a doctor misbehaves he can blame it on you in the doctor notes. This has happened to me when I got a copy of the notes at a later date. One doesn’t know what they say about you unless you request the record. Then try and make a complaint about concerns about treatment and they do nothing and cover up each other’s mistakes like they did nothing wrong.

The reason I have lost trust in most medical professionals isn’t on this list. In my experience when I really need them they have been proven to me by example to try 2 (3 tops) different avenues for non obvious issues. If the medicines don’t work the doctor gives up and then the bills start rolling in while I’m at home looking for a better doctor (only to be followed by more bills). My recent experience was a year old doctors, a ground out tooth, a biopsy, any money to spare paid in doctor bills being informed I had a syndrome with no visible symptoms, no way to test that I’d have to live with indefinitely but they’d give me anti depressants to deal with it and after a year I found out I was allergic to a detergent I used on my dish rag. I had a major back rash with boils at one time (bad allergy to a detergent) that was treated as acne and the doctor scoffed when I said my only relief was white distilled vinegar. (Not the expensive meds being promoted by big pharma) A three year case of candida handled by an NP after being prescribed 6 rounds of antibiotics for something I didn’t have and a a false diagnosis by a doctor having an incurable std that I didn’t even have. There is simply a cut off point that if it’s not life or death or getting a cavity filled I may as well figure it out myself.

I feel the same. I don’t go to the doctor. I see no point. Waste hours of time to be ignored. Ten plus years of worsening symptoms and nobody will listen. If a blood test is 0.007 within normal limits but you have had symptoms for years it doesn’t matter. They’re all quacks.

We live in an information age. Very often patients are more informed than the doctors they go to see. This is especially true of rare and extremely poorly understood health issues such as ME/CFS. Too often the attitude of doctors is to brush off the opinions of the patient just because they researched the information online. Many doctors are perhaps afraid that their authority on the subject has been challenged.

I’d hate to be the one to break the news, but the world has changed and it will continue to change as patients become more empowered by technology and new ways of thinking.

If doctors want to keep up with the times, then it’s important to realise the importance of listening to the patient and seeing the doctor patient relationship as one of 2 equals.

The medical ” profeession” is nothing but a money making scam.
nhs consultant wannabees “registrars”.
wrong/late diagnosis.
just get them on the mind numbing drugs attitude, that make big pharma £100s of BILLIONS a year.
I could write a tombe detailing the litany of wrong diagnosis,
late treatment.
NO explanations about my cancer.
so called treatments which DO NOT work.
and the wonderful ability to bury their mistaked when it all goes wrong.

Spot on! I don’t mind that they make money but their lack of care for fellow human beings is disturbing. They look at most patients as a cadaver more than a living breathing human. I go through pain if I need anything stronger than an aspirin and use supplements for everything else. What is really funny is that I trust chiropractors more than doctors and doctors say they are quacks. Me thinks medical doctors are quacks… Don’t trust them and we should not be forced by our government to do business with them through healthcare tax laws.

Excellent point. We can spend as much time online as we want researching symptoms and treatments. A doctor does not have that luxury. I think in the past 10 years of checkups I have actually made eye contact with a doctor for a grand total of 20 minutes. With so much informagion available we only need doctors for a physical repair or a prescription.

Jack you are so spot on, I know much more about my rare condition than my GP (s), rather than support me answer what they can and refer on when they don’t know, which I not only want them to do , but fully respect, they become defensive and dismissive of complex symptoms they don’t understand.
The system must be doing something to our medical students, we cannot explain the dismisnessness of so many Dr ‘s on
‘the wrong people’ in the job.

I would like to start my comment with quotes from Dr. Atul Gawande (from his lecturer on Radio 4): “There are two primary reasons why doctors fail. Number one is ignorance: we have only a limited understanding of all of the relevant physical laws and conditions that apply to any given problem or circumstance. The second reason, however, they called “ineptitude”, meaning that the knowledge exists but an individual or a group of individuals fail to apply that knowledge correctly. Gorovitz and MacIntyre saw a third possible kind of failure. Besides ignorance, besides ineptitude, they said that there is necessary fallibility, some knowledge science can never deliver on”. Should anyone ask the GP for an Amino Acid test or CPK symptoms & tests, the GP has no idea what we are talking about. Fair enough, it is impossible to know 1000s of names and procedures but GPs really ought to start moving away from dispensing medications like if they were M&M’s. There is no prevention in the healthcare system. When was the last time that GP asked his patient about his/her life style? His/her nutrition habits? A GP once insisted in telling my mother to stop drinking alcohol as her AST, GGT and ALT levels were very high. My mother was not drinking any alcohol – it was a combination of medications that raised her liver levels and made her very ill. Why do keep saying to patients that blood results are fine when often these are very short to become an issue? A blood sugar level of 5.8mmol/L does not ring any alarm bells at the surgery (there is no an asterisk next to the test) but at 6.0mmol/L or above – the GP will swiftly prescribe Type 2 Diabetes treatments (no prevention). After the USA, the UK is the second country in the world with the highest trend in prescribing Statins. There is not one single independent study showing that Statins actually save lives [1994–2002 ALLHAT study]. The latest, 15/11/2016, report by US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), has found that: “evidence is yet not sufficient to assess the benefits and harms of starting statins for primary prevention of cardio vascular disease events and mortality”. While proton pump inhibitors (like Lansoprazole) are often prescribed to those taking NSAID drugs (like Naproxen), there is no suggestion to take CoQ10 when Statins are prescribed! Some doctors are moving towards “functional medicine” as they follow old guidelines set by those like Hippocrates and Galen. Naturopathy, Chiropractic medicine and Acupuncture are just a few of the alternatives available to the public. They mostly look at prevention or cure without medicines. The healthcare system wants us to believe that is looking after us, when in fact, doctors have become vending machines for the Big Pharma. For example, they want us to believe that Chemotherapy save lives (I suppose it might bring hope – and a lot of pain) but they don’t tell us that over a 5 years period “success” is limited to just above 2.0%. The Govt. gives GPs guidelines and I know that this is not what they want – there is no way that in 10 minutes GPs are able to give a professional assessment. The majority of the public is also at fault as they all expect a quick fix (hope) as they are often more concerned with TV, Media and mobile phones that their actual health. I simply wish we could move towards a more intelligent and concerned society.

Seems like everything in this article attempts to justify bad behaviors that doctors exhibit. If you are aware of the problem then be part of the solution. Seeing a patient for 4 minutes and billing for an hour may help “keep your practice afloat” but it is a huge disservice to a patient. I know from experience that many doctors may listen to their patients but don’t bother accurately reporting what their patients tell them. If you’re issue doesn’t neatly fit into the doctors 4 minute diagnosis then it wont be entered.

I agree with you James. When my ruptured disk in my back happened, I went to the GP to try to find out what the problem was. The Doctor told me to exercise more after they poked me where it hurt. No explanation was given. I went a few years and the pain has persisted with no explanation. I kept going in and all the doctor wanted me to do is “take some pain killers and exercise”. I was already taking more than the maximum dose recommended of Acetaminophen and ibuprofen everyday. Every visit was 10 minutes long and consisted of laying on a cold table and being poked where it hurt for 5 minutes until I was told again to take painkillers. It cost a whopping $425 each time I went in for “Rehabilitation Exercise”, “Training for Rehabilitation Exercises” and “Evaluation Fee” of being poked in the back with sharp finger nails and getting my blood pressure taken.
Doctors do nothing but take a paycheck and leave you with problems.
On the 6th Visit the doctor told me that maybe I was “imagining the pain” which I was highly shocked by.
On the 7th visit to the GP I yelled at the doctor for not fixing the problem and blowing me off. They gave me a referral to an imaging center where I was scanned. I was told nothing for that visit.
I went in a second time and was told to lift my legs for 5 minutes then was told to go home.
The second visit I had a horse needle with steroids injected into my spine and they told me “I was not a candidate for surgery” and was charged $25.
The third visit they gave me muscle relaxers and an ointment that was applied to my back and it made me throw up, have vertigo, and Chronic Drowsiness. When I stopped use the symptoms ceased and I tried it again a week later and had the same symptoms.
The fourth time I was finally diagnosed with a Ruptured Disk and I was still told “I am not a candidate at this time”.
Doctors these days are jokes.
I still have a ruptured disk and it prevents me from standing for long periods of time and bending over. I continue to take over the “recommended” dose of painkillers to slightly numb the pain.

As a hospital worker I can tell you the MD story above is mostly accurate. What the public does not realize is that there have been sweeping changes, even this year. For example, many hospitals have programs in place that effectively limit services. The programs are called “bundled payments”. The hospital gets one check per patient hospitalization. If that check is shared with an out-patient physical therapist for example, the hospital gets less money. So of course they stop sending patients to out-patient therapy. And on and on it goes. Many services and products are no longer offered to patients because of payment cut-backs to hospitals/physicians etc…. One day surgery is still lucrative and more doctors are moving toward surgeries which do not include hospitalization–they say hospitalization is not necessary for many surgeries–I say they probably want to keep the entire check. Anyway, if you want to understand what is happening in healthcare, “follow the money”.

I relate to all testimonies and reasons why patients are losing trust and hope in doctors. Seems to be prevalent and dangerous- case in point was when the African with Ebola was released from emergency care with misdiagnosis.

My experience with doctors are as explained above with many other comments. They make you feel as though you have not the right over your own body and the bodies of your children. They know better then you even though they see you or your child once a year for a pathetic check up and they have a sudden insight to your whole background. People want a doctor to come along side not bully and take over. Who’s paying who here? Furthermore doctoring is just looking at symptoms, throwing meds at you billing the crud out of you and wah- lah your fixed. People are SICK of it!!! Hate to say it but things are changing.

You claim these profit driven non listening doctors are a rarity, I beg to differ, but they are the norm. I am permanently disabled from a plethora of bad doctors who claimed there could not possibly be anything wrong with me. Sadly, I suffered an internal spinal collapse and spinal cord injury. An internal collapse not caused from trauma is very rare because any decent doctor would listen to your history and complaints and run an appropriate test. Not the case with the dozen plus doctors I saw before this happened.

I jut pulled a Trump today and told my latest Neurologist, “You’re Fired!” He sucked so badly! I saw him for terrible head pain and geting dizzy and passing out. Does this jerk or the last jerk actually run a test? No. He prescribed med after med that made me very ill. I went to his office today because once again they can’t be bothered to answer a phone. I demanded to see my chart and there was the universal red allergy sticker with the med I am allergic to clearly visible, yet this “doctor” just prescribed med with that compound I am not to take. I was livid. These doctors today are a pathetic excuse. The only oath they took was to make money at anyone’s expense. If a few people are maimed or die, oh well. Nobody cares.

In a couple of years people will look back and wonder how humans survived at all. The ridiculous methods doctors use. For instance the reflex test. It proves nothing except you haven’t killed me off yet because I move when hit with a hammer. Doctors used to say smoking was good for you too. Maybe I just need a good blood letting. Let the quackery continue, but not with me.

I share the same sentiment that most of the other commenters have shared. I’ve had bad experiences with doctors, one after the other- the exception being my OBGYN who actually knows how to treat his patients like real people.

Primary care doctor- a nurse at the front desk Yelled like a lunatic at me. I was having a bad day so her yelling drove me to tears. So much for treating me like a person. The Nurse Practitioner was a judgmental person who probably perceived me as gay or a prude for not being her idea of what a person in my age ground “should be.” On multiple occasions I found I had to lie to her to avoid the pitfalls of the profit driven system, along with avoiding judgmental. looks. Top that with the face I never saw the real doctor in that practice and I still hope that nurse got fired or laid off.

On one occasion I went to a gastroenterologist for what was an ulcer and got put on the strong meds. After two months of taking the prescribed pills, I started getting bad side effects from it. The fact that he never said a WORD about the side effects is what makes me mad even now. Also, because I hung up on the phone with one of the nurses in his practice, for a follow up he had a rude attitude with me. Sorry, but I wanted to respect the fact that the nurse had nothing to do with my angriness at you and the poison you prescribe.

Later on went onto taking the weaker form of the pills and those would stop working after months anyway. Before we moved, the gastroenterologist wanted to talk to me, but I refused and had that appointed cancelled. Never gonna fall for those lies that I have to be on antacids for the rest of my life for something that’s temporary if treated fast enough.

I did research on what naturally helps the stomach recover and prevent the problem I had and I’d rather do that then visit a doctor now.

Dermatologists pretty much ignore me and I’ve had rosacea on my face for years. They don’t care and all they want to do is milk money out of my pocket to give to their greedy pharmaceutical friends. I’ve turned to using old fashioned apple cider vinegar on the effected areas because screw big pharmacy and the whole system.

This is why I’ll never trust mainstream doctors again. If you can’t treat your patients like real people, then I’ll actively avoid it as much as possible.

PS. Find a way to cut down the skyrocketing cost of medicine. I’m tired of the idea that if you get seriously ill you have to file for bankruptcy or take out huge loans. The US System is a failed system that’s only good for the upper middle class and the upper class of society. Even though the ACA makes sure that hospitals treat you if you can’t pay, it hasn’t stopped huge bills from having to be paid by the patient post-treatment.

I lost trust in most doctors when they refused to believe my symptom reports and/or consider my suggested diagnoses, and marked me as a “troublesome” patient. Despite having nearly completed a PhD in clinical psychology, taking a number of graduate level medical courses, working as a research assistant in a university family medicine research department, being praised for my own diagnostic skills during my clinical psychology internships, relying on pubmed and peer-reviewed journals when I suggested a diagnosis to a doctor, and having been taught and practiced differential diagnosis for the 6 years I spent doing internships and practicums, whenever I’ve suggested a possible diagnosis I’ve generally had to fight with the physician to have it seriously considered. I do extensive research when suggesting a diagnosis–so much so that one of the few doctors who truly listened to my diagnostic argument (a well known and respected neurologist from the Cleveland Clinic) looked at me with surprise and remarked, “Why, you’re really diagnosing!.” “Yes,” I replied, “I was taught to diagnose in my graduate studies.”

However, with the exception of him and one other family physician who recognized that I practice differential diagnosis intelligently and correctly, I’ve faced dismissive attitudes from many others. As a result, I have been misdiagnosed with Bronchitis when I’d contracted whooping cough (the doctor didn’t believe my suggestion that the distinctive symptoms were whooping cough until I came in with my husband, who backed up my description of the distinctive nature of the cough, finally convincing the doctor that I truly had whooping cough–and also pointing out a sexist element in doctors being dismissive of my self-diagnoses, as I am a woman). I have correctly diagnosed my dogs with the following ailments, all of them at first dismissed by the vet and later proven correct: cutaneous fungal overgrowth (initially misdiagnosed as a bacterial infection by a vet); cutaneous hemangiosarcoma (initially classified as a harmless mole, later removed and biopsied for a diagnosis of, yes, cutaneous hemangiosarcoma); and most seriously, hemolytic anemia, of which my dog eventually died. I have also correctly diagnosed myself with lichens planus (diagnosis confirmed by an ENT) and shingles (confirmed by a family physician) as well as recurrent respiratory biofilm infections, which I’ve suffered since childhood (the doctor asked for my copy of the peer reviewed article I brought in, as she’d never heard such a thing was possible, although the literature now supports such a diagnosis). I have a number of neurological symptoms that, while I have not been able to pin down a certain diagnosis–and neither have my doctors–I at least have pushed to have certain tests done to rule out some diagnoses (and the doctors agreed to the testing after some initial resistence as they knew I was correct in voicing the possibility of that diagnosis). Most recently, I have been pooh-poohed by a couple of doctors for suspecting that the severe intercostal muscle pain I experienced two years ago–so severe it sent me to the emergency room–for which they found no cause yet suggested a possible muscle tear from coughing–and which then disappeared within 3 days, thereby ruling out a muscle tear–was Coxcackie B caused Bornholm disease. Since then, repeated bouts of herpangina and recurrent milder but distinctive intercostal muscle pain (co-occurring) leads me to believe that the Coxsackie virus has persisted in my system. Apparently, however, only pediatricians are aware that in cases of compromised immunity (and I caught the Bornholm’s during my convalescence from whooping cough, immediately after a 6 month regiment of prednisone for my neurological symptoms, both leaving my immune system incredibly weak), Coxsackie virus can evade the weakened immune system and persist/recur over longer periods of time. I have read accounts from pediatricians who are aware of this possibility–yet the rheumatologist I went to in regard to the apparent recurrences of herpangina/bornholms said this was impossible–despite admitting she was no expert in Coxsackie virus. I paid her $90 to be dismissed as a flake. In addition, she ignored the test results I brought with me showing I had contracted Coxsackie B1 and B3 in the past year or two–misreading them, as the type of testing I was given only shows the level of positive results the testing revealed if an infection is fairly recent. Instead, she misinterpreted this particular test as indicating I had Coxsackie virus as a child–revealing I knew more about that type of viral test than she did, at least in regard to the Coxsackie virus. I have found that only doctors without ego problems are willing to listen to me, and I now avoid going to the doctor unless the diagnosis is a crystal clear one. I have been right far more frequently than my doctors have, and have had treatments delayed for both my dog and myself due to egos getting in the way of seriously considering my diagnostic suggestions. Apparently, they fail to see that diagnosis is a rational practice that can be learned even by a non-MD, as long as that person has adequate training and experience, as well as a grounding in diagnostic techniques–instead of a magic rite capable of being practiced only by those who’ve been initiated into the cult of medicine.

Physicians have changed dramatically since the 90’s. They complain about everything…..it’s the insurance companies fault, attorney’s fault, patients, hospitals, everybody but theirs….are there any other professionals that are qua ranted payment for services. NO. They are lazy and stay inside their little boxes. Hospitalist….I think ruined physicians….before they came into play doctors were better…..smarter…to me if your a doctor and you don’t do rounds at a hospital….why are you a doctor? They don’t seem to be as educated…and we all know of some doctors who didn’t do to med school in a reputable country…maybe bought their degree? I happen to be associated socially with many doctors the most egotistical group of professionals. My opinion….hospitalist killed the physiciansame. Think about it that’s when doctors went lost their art.

” It has been opposed on us from on high” bad grammar word usage makes me lose trust 🙂 Seriously though I was sick from lead poisoning from stripping lead paint off my house during a heavy stressful renovation and I had some liver problems causing choleostatis I looked pale and was fatigued. My brother managed to convince a doctor I was suicidal while I thought I needed an MRI for headaches and a diagnosis for exhaustion, despite my repudiation of the idea the decision had already been made and I could not get out of a psych ward for 5 days. Absolute insanity, but if you complain or refust to take the drugs you will be forced to. I no longer have trust in the medical system or my brother but I had to pay for the experience myself and have had to try and salvage my reputation. Mostly a total loss. How did I get well? I went to alternative medicine. About 75% quackery but one place actually cured my liver problems and now I’m healthy again. I could have easily got stuck in the madness of the medical system not to mention financial debt. I understand why things are expensive but your patients are not ignorant and know that the medical system needs patients to keep it afloat financially and there is a HUGE profit motive. We need a single payer healthcare system like the rest of the 1st world.

If you think a single health care system is the answer you address completely wrong. I have lived in multiple countries with a single payer system and it is a hundred times worse.Doctors are still paid extremely well but work 9-15pm, if you question them at all they put you to the back of the line or refuse to see you again. It takes 12 months to get an mri. My friend died of colon cancer while waiting months to see the specialist after the known diagnosis. If America every becomes a specialized medicine country my family will move. My family has horror stories of lack of care and lifelong disability from the system in Canada. The subsystem is not working but that is SO MUCH WORSE!!!! We have lived in Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Bahamas and the UK. If you don’t kiss up to the doctors they ban you. People would be shocked. I cone from a medical back ground and hate the doctors now but socialized medicine is a horror! 5 months to get treatment for a sinus infection- 7 year waiting list for sinus surgery in Vancouver Canada. Wake up people! If you have an easy issue you can go to a walk in. Don’t expect quick treatment of you have anything complicated or need to see a specialist. Get used to being in pain if you need an orthopedic surgeon. Take it from someone who knows. We have lots of doctors in my family and I think they have become awful in the US. The complaints peopke are mashing are because it’s becomemore like socialized medicine not less!…

The problems you describe are very real and I agree with you. The funny thing about the whole socialized medicine push is that you would have a hard time getting even its most staunch champions to deny that private insurance will always provide better care. In the end, this problem (along with many others) essentially comes down to a simple societal breakdown of integrity and work ethic. More and more people today are just plain out lazy; they don’t want to work, and they want the guy that does work and does produce to pay for everyone else. People, in general, are simply morally pathetic.

I feel for all who have written about their experiences. I’m so sorry this was your relationship with the medical community. I was in pharmacy and patient care for over 25 years, and now am an integrated counselor with a Masters in holistic health. I look at your whole life and we come up with options and I do the research to make sure you can make an informed choice and ask strong questions. I work behind the scenes as your advocate while providing the emotional support that you may need.
I work with your doctor and caregivers so that you have the time and space to make good choices for yourself and family. I do not say this to drive up business, but to offer you hope that there is change coming. I spend the time with you that others can’t to make sure you are heard while using “medical speak” to your health care providers so they can offer you targeted treatments. It’s a win-win. This can only happen if I earn your trust. To the author: WE have to EARN TRUST, it is NOT demanded. It is built over time…respect comes from caring what happens from our interactions and follow up. I choose to make myself available to my clients,even when it may be inconvenient because I never want them to feel the way some here do. My client list is somewhat limited because I only take the number I can offer quality to. I’m not financially wealthy, but my clients never wonder if they are just a number. I make my rates manageable because these are troubling times and many are stressed to their limit. I leave room for charity and compassion. To the patients and providers here: we can do this if we work together. Patients will be honest about what they are really doing if they know we are on their side, and caregivers can provide better options if they have acurate information to work with. I promise to do my part in this.

I had the same doctor for 26 years. He was an old school doctor and would literally throw pharma reps out of his practice because they had their time once a week when he wasn’t seeing patients. I had this HEALER since I was 16.

When I was 42 he told me he was going to retire and I found a new GP. Call me gullible if you will but having grown up on the Southside of Chicago and later working on the Westside I thought I was pretty streetwise. I had seen every con, swindle, setup that you could imagine. Nobody was ever going to get over on me.

That was until I met the NEW BREED of doctor. IMO they are the worst people to walk the face of the Earth. They lie to your face, do unnecessary procedures so they can bill your insurance and prescribe new and improved drugs when old tried and true ones would have done just fine. When I was approaching 50 I went for my DL renewal. I barely passed the vision part so off I went to my “trusty” ophthalmologist. I was right at 20/40. Instead of recommending glasses he gave me the hard sell for Lasik. He promised I would be 20/15, still able to read and have no side affects. I would have put drops in for a week, that would be the only thing that would be a hassle. It would take 15 minutes for the actual procedure and I would see like I was in my 20’s. The moral is that this was all bull.

It was the worst thing I have ever done in my life, I now know why my ophthalmologist is a multimillionaire, I have been maimed for life and the best part for me is I never signed the informed consent form. My EYE doctor was too busy thinking about how he was going to spend my $5000 to bother to even check. They handed me a bunch of forms, I read all this nasty stuff that could happen so I didn’t sign them and I figured I would have time to ask this man about all of the side effects that could and did happen. I actually should have walked out but I figured I would go over them with him. “Don’t worry about it, none of that stuff ever happens” w/o ever checking if I signed the forms. He had me in the chair with the laser and I was asking questions. “Don’t worry, I do this 10 times every week.” To condense this I should have worried, just about everything bad that could of happen did and my only saving grace was under law I never gave consent. While they were telling me I was fine, I was in serious pain and my vision was and still is much worse then it was plus my eyes are constantly dry, only then did they notice I never signed.

They had maimed me for life and had THEY no recourse. My ophthalmologist tried to get me to sign the forms later and date them the day of the surgery but I went for a second opinion and then a third. With those records in hand I went to an attorney. I was able to sue, my eyes are wrecked, I’m a far way from 20/15 and a $200 pair of glasses would have sufficed. Who would have thought that a ophthalmologist would make a crack dealer look honest? My GP heard about the lawsuit and dumped me as a patient.

I have since settled the lawsuit (a decent amount but not even close to the actual damage done – no amount of money can make up for wrecked eyes), I found a new GP who I actually went to school with and have learned the hard way that MOST doctors could care at all about you but LOVE money. They are driven by GREED. Face it your doctor didn’t go to medical school to help people, they went to eventually make a bunch of money.

The NEW BREED of doctor, they don’t even take the Hippocratic Oath. They take some oath but if you are motivated by money does any oath you take matter? I didn’t need the media to portray them in a bad light, I wish I had seen that BEFORE I put my trust in what I thought was a decent human being. I was wrong and even the author of this article has horrible reviews on the internet. She may have great reviews from her peers but her patients ALL rate her practice ONE STAR. The NEW BREED of doctor, outdone by the NEW BREED of patient. The internet is a two way street, IOW those in glass houses shouldn’t try and write articles about trust when their own patients don’t even trust them.

I trust my naturopathic doctor and the one MD I have found in the past decades who is an integrative medicine family physician. They both listen.
They both work with me. I have yet to find other MDs who don’t yell at me when I object to something, or act dismissive, or push medicines I have had adverse reactions to, or who don’t instantly argue with me when I explain about a side effect. I have now been branded as “antiscientific” because of my lack of trust in physicians who do not take individual effects of strong pharmaceuticals into account, and who ignore concerns I have about the effects of others. I have caught many MDs in outright lies about side effects or diagnoses they may have given me, and about potential problems with invasive diagnostic testing. This makes me dig in and trust less rather than reassure me about worries I have, because then I don’t have any way to figure out who in the medical profession is lying to get their way, or who has been brainwashed into believing that there are no such thing as problem side effects, as opposed to a healthy reassurance that I don’t need to worry about something.

For a doctor, there is an inherent tension between “having the right answer” and a reality that there may not be any clear answer. There is also a tension around providing the right amount of additional information to a patient. Some patients do not want any information, they just want the doctor to fix them. When a doctor misreads the patient and gives a pat answer without explanation to a patient wanting more, or too much information to someone that only becomes anxious with more information. Either case can cause a loss of trust.
As one who always wants to know as much as possible about a doctor’s thinking and about possible alternatives, it is amazing to find those who just want the doctor to “fix them”.

i really like your comment, it is thoughtful and accurate in my opinion, communication is an art form it really is, (and you seem to already to know this), because someone has a good memory and can pass written test with flying colors does not by any means , mean that they have good social skills even with patients whom do not, this is a really important aspect of a doctors life and he has been conveniently replaced with lengthy questionnaires for the patients and other scripted items to distance the patient from the doctor, i think you bring up a most valid point , thank you

I lost trust in my doctor when I found out she was talking to my domestic partner about my case.
The trust between a doctor and their client is sacred and when we are told that all information is confidential it should remain so.
I also learned that what she was doing is legal and is called gleaning, where she can listen to what anyone has to say, but she cant discuss specifics.
But during my last 3 visits she had brought up issues I don’t have, based on what information she received from my domestic partner.
She seemed upset that I wouldn’t talk about it, or what was current going on in my life. How can I if I don’t trust her.
I really needed to talk to her because I just spent 2 months in a domestic violence shelter because of abuse at home.
If gleaning is legal, What if it affects the relationship and treatment between a patient and their doctor. Is it still legal…. WHERE ARE THE BOUNDARIES ???
At what point does gleaning violate HIPAA

Oh wow. That is horrible. Can’t trust anyone anymore. It is none of her business to be taking information from someone who does not have any business in your medical information! Doctors are complete jokes!

Agreed that what moves today doctors in the USA is only profit, I wonder why Americans don’t unanimously stand and shout out loud that is finally time to have a universal health care system insted of the actual health care privatization which is precisely the reason why doctors are guided by profit first and, MAYBY, by compassion for humanity and passion for their profession. Hey, people, wake up!

Sorry to tell you this, but it is you that needs to wake up and learn to think a little bit deeper. Yep, there is greed. But the biggest concern,*by far*, is the quality of care. It is already not good enough and it will, by definition, get worse if socialized. It needs to be regulated, not socialized.

The shear-arrogance of many doctors is completely incongruent with their results. At what point does saving every individual totally screw up the gene-pool so that the entire human population is at risk while, also, making extinct thousands of other species?

Well, for one IMO; they are pressed for time, why? Because, most if not all double book their pt’s. Greed, they charge well above what most services cost. They make most of their income by performing unecessary surgeries. I could talk about that all night. They are in some ways lazy, not all, they want all the credit, for a job done, and most nurses and allied health associates do the work…..I sense that they have lost touch with compassionate patient care…it’s not being treated like an idiot!! Some are complete liars instead of admitting to their lack of competence…here comes the ego in the white coat!!

Here are some (maybe more pressing) reasons that people have no trust in their physicians. 1. They hardly look at us, let alone listen to or empathize with us. How can you diagnose someone who you’re not even hearing? We get interrupted, intimidated and ignored. 2. The profit motive. MANY doctors, not just outliers, receive money from Pharmaceutical and medical supply companies for promoting their goods. “The more money doctors receive from drug and medical device companies, the more brand-name drugs they tend to prescribe, a new ProPublica analysis shows. Even a meal can make a difference.” Want us to trust you again? Stop taking money from these industries.

My problem is that I will make an appt and get to the office and only see a nurse practitioner and not the same one ever. The Drs name is on door and goes over files n signs off on them. These people don’t know me. For instance I went to a dermatologist for a rash around my nose. I never laid eyes on Dr. after 6 mo of going in and them not diagnosing the problem right and wouldn’t refill the script unless I come in. I got wore down n gave up for a yr. I was plagued by this rash n finally made another appt with a Dr that did see me. He said I was misdiagnosed and gave me a script that cleared it just in a few days n hasn’t returned… I’m chronically ill and that’s just one example. I HAVE NO DR THAT SEES ME AS A WHOLE PERSON. IM PARTS TO EVERY DR.
this to me is a big problem and leads to misdiagnosis. It took 20 yrs to find a Dr that finally found out that I have Autoimmune Hepititis… MY IMMUNE SYSTEM SEES MY LIVER AS A INTRUDER N ATTACKED MY LIVER…This misdiagnosis made me now need a New liver. If would have caught sooner I would not have needed that liver… TELL ME WHY??? Its because most Drs don’t care. Also, u may find a good Dr while in a hospital but he is a HOSPITALIST… They have no office n u never lay eye on them again…. What Is wrong with this picture….

Well the comments are interesting and this article is true beyond words. Doctors (Along with many other things in society) have utlimately become “Lawyer driven”. The fear that these people have created has made everyone useless at their jobs. We are seeing the fall of the Roman Empire imploding in a wave of Liberal atrociousness that makes everyone right and no one wrong. At the end of the day, the root of the problem are just as much the people’s fault as it is the doctors. Greed is the ultimate root this problem from both fronts. Lawyers would not have power if people weren’t using them for their own personal benefit. At the end of the day, you have to educate yourself and look past the egos of ALL professional people. That is what I look for in all aspects of people in business. As soon as you know it all in life, how teachable will you ever be regardless of your intelligence?

I was super sick I was just waiting to die I lost total faith in doctors I had seen over 60 doctors 100’s of test’s and over 200 visits to clinic or hospital . For dizziness, nausea , dry heaves, weight loss, rash, heart palpitations, blurred vision, tremors, brain pressure and brain fog, and extreme fatigue, I was offered anti-depressants a few times, which is silly . I was not depressed I was desperate because I was dying! It took over two years before I was diagnosed by a doctor that is an MD, and a Chinese medicine doctor and a naturopathic doctor that was in private practice and he ran his own show. had you meet with a nutritionists before you walked out the door. Patients were on waiting list a mile long to see him He diagnosed me by the second visit with mycotoxins poisoning , which is black mold poisoning I did not even know this was hidden in our newer house, He was curing people left and right, This is doctor is worked on cases that the medical university could not figure out and he would figure it out This doctor maybe is one in thousand maybe one in ten thousand . I have a family member that is doctor in a prestigious facility and I can say this the stress level and the patient load is insane, and many of the doctors there are not thrilled, because they are overworked
how can you do your job when more patients means more money for the people at the top and the doctors are buried in red tape. I would rather go to see a naturopathic doctor any day, I have noticed this they always are slim, look super healthy looking, and take the time to listen to you and talk with you, are compassionate and caring, you never ever feel rushed. Of course it is some serious trauma I would go to the ER I had a droopy eye I was given an x-ray and an MRI they suspected a stroke, nothing was found, I went to Chinese Medicine Doctor he cured me within 48 hours! It is these sorts of events that make you step back and think, and reevaluate some false belief you held that no longer fits the paradigm

I experienced and am experiencing more and less of the problems you faced so I’d like to share a greatly summarized version of how I conquered my trust in doctors and I may be sharing my story with the relevant sufferers so they too can escape from the predicament:

First, I faced multiple symptoms which later developed into me being on life support, bedridden due to coma for months. Upon awakening from the coma and gradually gaining full consciousness of reality, I trusted my treating doctor. After some time, I realised that he only cared for possible symptom-based-medication and ignored my feedback, in which I grew worse.

Fast forwarding, I left him and consulted other specialists, all of which had more or less the same technique. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and experiment with myself while improvising upon the doctors’ evaluations. There had been several negative outcomes but overall today, I have improved a lot. Comparing and contrasting with people of similar case as mine but they under medication, my medical condition far supersedes theirs.

Last year I was informed that when doctors don’t know or don’t care about a patient’s case, they will look for a safe answer that the patient seemingly exhibits to fill in the medical report to protect their medical license as well as their income.

I also am thinking of creating a community of people like us to help motivate others with similar predicaments, but not anytime soon. Hopefully, I’ll be back here to inform after I’m done.

If you care to know why at least one member of the public lost all faith in the medical proffession a decade and a half ago, I can tell you.

First, it’s being caught in “Doctor-Psychologist Ping Pong”, as I call it.
Doctor: “Oh, I don’t think this is a real medical problem. You need to see a counselor.”
Counselor: “You really dont show any signs of serious emotional trauma, other than having chronic pain. I really think you should see a doctor and have tests run.”
Doctor: “The tests are pretty normal. I think you’re just somotizing, and you should see a different counselor.”
Different Counselor: “I really don’t see any signs of somotization disorder. Perhaps you should try a different doctor?”
Different Doctor (Immediately after I was rushed there by ambulance, filled with 2 doses of Demorol and four doses of Morphine to keep me from screaming in agony): “I don’t believe you have a real medical condition. I refuse to run any tests. I think it’s all in your head.”
Counselor at a Mental Facility I checked myself into to try to get help (after they said, and I quote, “I think we can help you.”): “Until you tell us what your emotional problem is, we won’t feed you.”
That’s a real-life look at “Doctor-Psychologist Ping Pong” and what it feels like to be the ball everyone wants to pay for they rendering NO useful service whatsoever. Every time you get pinged or ponged across the table, your trust for your doctor ebbs away bit-by-bit until there is nothing left but nightmares of long hospital stays and terrible verbal abuse from both sides of the table. Welcome to the world of the patient.

Second, it’s the total blasé Doctors use as they do things that have permanent consequences without any concern for the harm they are causing. I am covered with INCREDIBLY painful damage (whether nerve damage or tissue damage or something else entirely, no one knows) caused by injections and incisions. (How do I know the cause? Because it’s obvious. The sore-spot caused by the injection or incision will be like an invisible bruise that slowly gets worse until 6-12 months later it develops into full-on damage that can trigger a seizure reaction). They never heal. The pain never lessens, though muscle control eventually does. I live with it every day, but the ones who caused it go on with their day. They can wear a coat and cuddle under a blanket when they’re cold at night. Why should they care that I no longer can… because of THEM?

Third: Misdiagnosis. It’s a single word that describes so much of what’s wrong with medicine today. Over and over and over and over (and on and on) I was given one patently ridiculous disgnosis after another. Here’s a few choice highlights:
– “Every time you think you’re in pain, put a cold orange on your belly button to make it go away.” (Yeah, that didn’t help and, frankly, was very uncomfortable, like being punished for being honest, especially to a 5-year-old.)
– Doctor: “Well, we’ve determined that you have OCD.”
Me: “Why would you say that?”
Doctor: “Because you answered this one question that you ‘Can’t control it’.”
Me: “Yeah, I can’t control the pain. I have methods of dealing with it, but I can’t make it go away.”
Doctor: “Stop making excuses. I’ve given you my diagnosis and, even if you don’t want to hear it, this medicine and some counseling is all you need.”
– (After describing the chest pains and chest heaviness that makes it hard to breathe and makes my arms and legs feel like lead weights and makes me feel peaceful and very cold and very, very sleepy) “Oh, you don’t want it to be a heart problem.” (Well, since we’re talking about what *I* want, I want you to wave a magic wand and make me all better again. I guess we can’t all have what we want. Needless to say, I chose not to answer the Doctor this way because it never does any good. They don’t want to help you in the first place, and that only gets worse if you use logic to show how ridiculous they are being.)

Fourth: Pressuring people to do things that are bad for them because of “policies”. When some rule or policy is more important to you than doing what is actually right for your patient long-term, the first casualty is the doctor-patient relationship, whether it’s me being denied antacids and motility drugs because I refuse to wear long pants when it’s only 55 or 60 outside (because I know it’d make me VERY sick to do so) or my aunt being refused essential nerve medications because she refused to have sex with the doctor. These abuses of power are rampant and used to pressure unwilling patients into everything from mere office visits (no matter how far away or inconvenient) to tests, proceedures, and surgeries they do not want.

Yeah, there’s a VERY good reason patients like me don’t trust doctors. Painful experience after painful experience has been our tutor. When we really started going to Doctors in earnest when I was 17, I believed that most doctors were like Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: TNG, kind and caring and committed to finding answers and sleuthing out clues to whatever ails you. What I found by bitter expereince after bitter experience, involving multiple hospitals (more than one being specificly diagnostic hospitals) and dozens of doctors across 7 US States, was that, in the real world, Doctors make the rude and insensitive EMH from Star Trek: Voyager look like a saint. As I so-often point out to people, “Lack of respect for authority always stems from the abuse of authority.” If the general public is losing their respect for doctors’ authority, maybe there is a VERY good reason for it. All the press in the world (for better or worse) can’t compete with personal experience (for better or worse).

I accept that the there are a lot of pressures imposed on Doctors from outside forces, meaning that they may simply be the dealers of a product rendered inferior by others they can’t control, but, at the end of the day, that’s exactly WHY the trust was lost in the first place (the inferior product that we are still forced to pay a premium price for, even when it does nothing to help and often does worlds of harm). Policies need to change, and only Doctors have a chance at doing it. Behavior toward patients needs to change, and only Doctors have the power to do it. When those things change and the product improves in quality and efficacy, I think patients would trust doctors again. Those of us who’ve lost faith in medicine WANT help. We’re just tired of paying over and over and over again for “Snake Oil” that turns out to be turpentine.

I really feel for you! I too have no trust for doctors due to some bad experiences involving members of my family and myself. Some doctors really do have the hubris to believe that just because they can’t find it, it (the problem in the physiology of the body) does not exist. What I believe is that they just don’t know where and how to look, or that there may not be a precise definitive test available yet. I got so greatly fed up that I began to educate myself about the anatomy and physiology of the human body, and this is a continuing process. I think we all must do this in order to protect our health from bad decisions and bad pharmaceuticals. One of my family members has permanent gastrointestinal damage from a long course of a high dose NSAID, another has an allergy to an antibiotic due to improper diagnosis and being prescribed the antibiotic for too long of a time for ineffectual treatment of a virus. I too live in pain 24/7 which began 12 years ago and I completely understand the horrid game of doctor/psychiatrist ping pong. I have encountered some truly good doctors and these doctors are the ones I hold as the standard when comparing the care received at the hands of the bad ones. Unfortunately, the good doctors are not available anymore! Fortunately, some of the bad ones aren’t either! I do keep hoping that I will find another. In the meantime, I refuse to do anything that I believe is harmful based on my own educated information. If I think a test or procedure to be extraneous and non productive, I say so and exactly why I believe this. If I know a drug to be harmful and unscientifically proven or not approved for the use suggested, I say so and refuse it.

Doctors treat patients like Guinea pigs in a lab. They pretty much demand patients to get every screening possible so they can bill the insurance companies, but when it’s time to treat what the patient actually came into the doctors office for they become deaf. They don’t listen and simply put they don’t care.

Now, because of the opioid crisis they’re all acting like they cant prescribe pain medications to people in ACTUAL pain. Newsflash!!The overdoses are drug addicts who purchase their drugs on the street.

I recently went with my 60 year old mother to the doctors because her back was out, she can barely walk. I should also add that she has suffered from fibromyalgia and Degenerative disc disease. She manages the pain on a regular basis, but when her back goes out she just needs something that will at least make her comfortable enough to recuperate. We met with a doctor who wasted our time for nearly 2 hours only for the doctor to prescribe my mom, a woman in chronic pain, MOTRIN. They prescribed her just motrin, but motrin doesn’t help with chronic pain nor is it good for the stomach. So, they ended up giving her nothing.

It’s bad. I know one thing, as a social work student I was scrutinized for my personality, any illnesses or criminal backgrounds, interviews, you name it. I think the problem is that medical schools should focus on getting rid of doctors who have the wrong personality to be a doctor. Nursing schools do this to some extent.

Many doctors don’t have the people skills to deal with difficult patients. I have noticed lately that doctors are being rated online. Mainly, they are rated on how they treat people, not just their clinical skills. When my social work program found out that I had depression, they kicked me out! But, yet doctors are in the system and nobody knows who they really are. I think patients who refuse treatment shouldn’t be stigmatized, they have that right. I have also just read about patient profiling, thats disgusting! I am a nurse, and I am not allowed to do such a thing. My healthcare agency could be sued for that.

Thank you! I looked up the data on their website and it says( way way down) that prescription overdoses are steady or declining for over 10 years. The Cartels are taking it in and they owe the DEA a debt of gratitude for mandating a reduction of 25% in oxycontin production back in 2012. That caused shortages and price increases. New meds came out this year but the lawsuits have blinded them with greed. Judge Nelson Wolfe of San Antonio said that they needed to get on board with the lawsuits or miss out on more money than they made from tobbaco. The sad part is the ingredients in cigarettes never changed. While they wrote settlement checks the government wrote them welfare checks to grow it. But now they attack patients? Why punish them for something they created? End the drug wars and free medical professionals to compete with no I mean zero restraints. You don’t have someone fix what they caused in the first place. Drug laws are racist anyway. ( See 1937 Texas Marijuana law and comments from Texas lawmakers.)

I am 49 years old, terminally ill and dying in agony. I haven’t been able to eat solid food in a year, I live on a liquid diet, I have only 15% lung function remaining and I’m told the next time I catch a respiratory virus it will likely kill me. Yet they want to do cardiac stents, steroid injections for my arthritis while failing to diagnose my severe abdominal pain, they say they can’t give me opioids because my breathing is so bad- all when I have statistically less than 2 years of life remaining if conditions remain perfect. Its too dangerous to treat my pain, but it’s ok to risk the anesthesia and invasive procedures and possibility of infections because they can hospitalize me and make tens of thousands of dollars from my excellent insurance for procedures which cannot extend my life or increase quality of life. I’m worth big money to them if they can divide me up quickly enough. But as they don’t have the common decency to try and make me comfortable, I’m going to cancel all treatment except my oxygen and end my life by stopping liquids. They’ll get no more money out of me after such cruelty as they’re demonstrating.

Hey Bill, I hope that you have somehow managed to improve and are doing better today. I understand what you are talking about and I’ve seen it myself many times. While many doctors certainly possess a great deal of (orthodox) medical knowledge and can potentially be of tremendous value, it is unfortunate to discover how often they are utterly unaware of just how much they *DON’T* know, and just how often they misuse and mis-apply that knowledge. And this is most evident when it comes to keeping up with the latest research, etc. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been shocked to find out that I literally know much more than the doctor about many recent developments in their own fields, simply because I took the time to read studies that most of the time they’ve never even heard of. Unfortunately, it seems that most of what doctors have learned is spoon fed to them directly by the people that stand to make money from their work. This is why, for example, most orthodox doctors will not prescribe (and often aren’t even aware of) certain natural treatments that have been shown to be very effective, and it’s also why they will often prescribe expensive treatments that have been shown to be ineffective and even harmful (e.g., many forms of chemotherapy).

I am in no way trying to say that most doctors and orthodox medicine are a fraud, or useless, or totally corrupt; far from it. There are many wonderful doctors, and many incredible developments in modern medicine. BUT, it is not perfect, the issues aren’t always black and white, and there is no shortage of incompetence and greed out there. I’ve come to learn that if you want to be healthy, or if you are dealing with a life threatening condition and you’d prefer to stay alive, you need to be pro-active. Learn everything that you can in every way that you can (including from talking to your doctors). But you should not blindly trust anyone; do your homework on the issues that you are facing and make the best decisions that you can based upon the sum of knowledge you’ve acquired from all sources.